Someplace Far Away To Spend The Rest Of Your Life
by cassie.hack
Summary: Having a new, huge house and a baby doesn't exactly make life easier for Shepard and Miranda... Continues the events from "The Days Of Saving The Galaxy Are Over"...
1. Chapter 1

**"To find someplace very far away, where you could spend the rest of your life... in peace. And happiness."**

.

"Are you done?"

The varren turned his head away from the tree he'd just inspected and Shepard raised her eyebrows expectantly, wrapping her arms tighter around her body as a cool night's breeze passed her. Cal turned back to his tree and continued his investigation, ignoring Shepard's sigh behind him altogether. While her varren was occupied with his favorite tree in their garden, Shepard scanned her surroundings, impatiently tapping the gun at her thigh. So far, she hadn't needed it, but Shepard was still a soldier, she couldn't just ignore her trained caution... Or so she'd told Miranda... She shrugged. In reality, she just liked to shoot stuff...

Her eyes fell on the golden Saren statue standing prominently in their garden and she grinned. Even though Miranda had taken care of the majority of their house's interior, Shepard hadn't been able to resist when Kasumi had informed her about her "finding" as soon as the master thief had returned from her second visit of Hock's (after the tragic death of its former owner still unoccupied) estate. The statue was now standing prominently in their garden, hopefully scaring off any trespassers (and holding a few extra weapons in its secret cache, just in case...).

Finally through with his nightly round, Cal turned around and, without even acknowledging her presence, plodded past Shepard and back into the house. Shepard sighed once more. "Thank you so much, dear Shepard, for getting up in the middle of the night and waiting for me in this cold breeze," she muttered as she turned and followed him.

Once inside, she activated the door control and turned to the varren standing next to her. "Anything new?" she asked while they waited for the door to close. Cal looked up at her with what could be called a quizzical look and Shepard shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the door to lock it, nowadays even more protective of her now extended household... She stepped in front of the window right next to the door and scanned the front yard one last time before she nodded, finally satisfied, and turned.

After a few steps, she'd reached the fake aquarium (yes, she was still infuriated that the Alliance had taken away her expensive fish collection!), covering almost the entirety of one of the living room's walls, and activated a hidden mechanism on the aquarium's frame. The glass with the holographic aquarium silently slid to the side and revealed her hidden weapon stash. Sighing in content at the sight in front of her, she carefully put her pistol back at its place before she closed it again.

She turned away from the wall and took a moment to let her eyes wander around the living room of their new house. Despite everything that had changed, Miranda's taste for expensive furniture hadn't... but Shepard didn't care. If it made her former XO feel more comfortable, Shepard was more than willing to pay for the overpriced couch or the antique (and imported!) wooden shelf holding books Shepard had never even heard of, let alone knew how to pronounce some of the words imprinted on their backs... A huge chair standing right next to the shelf invited to sit down and read - or in Shepard's case just sleep...

_Speaking of... _She turned and started climbing the stairs to the upper floor, Cal following her quietly.

The hallway's carpet dimmed her footsteps as she passed the bathroom, stopping only momentairly to peek into their bedroom. The room was, as expected, dark and empty, except for Niftu sleeping in his swinging hammock. The pyjak had obviously once more gotten bored by the activities taking place next door (probably insulted that he wasn't the center of attention anymore) and had retreated to his place...

She smiled as she made her way further down the hallway to the last remaining room to her left. The door was ajar and Shepard carefully opened it and slipped into the room.

* * *

Miranda smiled as she watched the soft blanket rise and fall while she listened to the even, relaxing breathing underneath. Her smile widened as she felt Shepard's (admittedly pretty cold) arms snake around her from behind.

"Is she asleep?" she whispered and Miranda nodded. They both looked down at the small figure in the cradle in front of them. A couple of minutes passed in silence as they both watched the newborn sleep before Miranda turned and rubbed Shepard's back.

"She just fell asleep right before you came in." They both turned towards the door and left the room, leaving the door ajar so that they could hear their daughter if she woke up in the middle of the night. "Her eyes are beautiful..."

Shepard nodded, proudly. "Yup, she's definitely got my steely blue eyes," she announced.

Miranda turned her head and her eyebrow rose as she snorted. "You mean she's got my deep blue eyes..."

Shepard shook her head. "Nope, I'm pretty sure they're light..." She grinned and before Miranda could protest, she added, "I'm excited to see what color her hair will turn out to be... I think I saw some red shining through this morning..."

Miranda sighed. "It's dark, Shepard."

"Dark red."

"No, dark..." An annoyed sigh. Why was she even arguing about this? "Black!"

"We'll see..."

* * *

They both stirred as they heard a soft whimper coming from next door. Taking a deep breath, Shepard leaned over and kissed Miranda's shoulder before she got out of the bed and left their room without a word.

Miranda sighed as she turned on her back, running a hand through her hair. A smile spread across her face at the sound of Shepard's soft, dimmed voice. "Hey... shhhh, it's okay, come here..."

The whimper immediately stopped (like it always did – who knew the feared Commander Shepard, Butcher of Torfan, had the talent to soothe babies?) and Miranda could hear Shepard's soft footsteps outside as the former commander carried their daughter downstairs. "You need your sleep, sweetheart. You've got a big day coming soon..."

Stretching once, Miranda yawned before she relaxed back into the soft pillows on the bed. She turned her head towards the door and heard Shepard whisper to Emily downstairs. Emily... Miranda's smile widened as she thought about the lively baby, eager to absorb everything that happened around her with curious (deep blue!) eyes...

They had decided to name their daughter in memory of Emily Wong. And although Miranda had never met the woman herself, the fact that Shepard's eyes had gleamed with deep respect while she'd told her about the reporter's sacrifice in the Reaper war had been enough to convince her... Miranda still didn't think the incident would be a good story for a child, but they could work out some of the details before telling their daughter about the person she'd been named after... She sighed inwardly. It wasn't entirely improbable that Shepard had already a couple of shirts or bumper stickers (which she'd aquired a certain liking for recently) with Emily Wong's last words on them stashed away somewhere in their house... She'd have to check that one day...

Miranda yawned once more before she left the bed and walked down the stairs outside their bedroom and into the living room, spotting Shepard on their couch.

* * *

"...and then mommy took out an entire group of approaching Blood Pack mercs while I took care of uncle Garrus," Shepard whispered, the baby in her arms sleepily closing its eyes again. She heard a sound behind her and seconds later, two arms snaked down on either side of her. She leaned her head back to capture Miranda's lips before her former XO circled the couch and sat down next to her, leaning on Shepard's shoulder.

"You know, I think you should still work on your bedtime stories before she's old enough to understand them..."

Shepard smiled and swung her free arm around Miranda and together they watched the baby sleeping peacefully between them. That was, until Shepard's omni-tool started blinking close to Miranda's eyes – almost blinding her. Looking at their daughter still sleeping peacefully in Shepard's arm, Miranda swallowed her curse and instead took Emily out of her arm as Shepard got up and started tapping at her omni-tool.

"What is it?"

Shepard's head rose momentarily but she quickly shook her head and turned away, making sure Miranda couldn't read the message on her omni-tool. "Nothing..."

* * *

"You're going on another mission?" The hand in which Miranda was holding the bottle with milk for Emily lowered slowly while her eyes remained on Shepard who was leaning against their kitchen's doorframe, the packed bag holding her armor and a small selection of her most trusted guns already in her right hand.

The former commander's free hand automatically reached for her neck. "Well, technically, it's not a mission..." she started, evading Miranda's eyes. "I'm just helping Garrus get even with an old friend of his..."

Emily started moving in Miranda's arms and she immediately raised the bottle again, her daughter's hands closing around it to prevent her mother from taking it away once more. Miranda sighed and shook her head. "How many grudges does that turian hold?"

Shepard shrugged. "I'm sure it can't be that many more... We've certainly shortened that list over the years..."

That answer didn't satisfy Miranda in the slightest and she decided it was time to test one of her newest weapons... She slightly shifted in her chair to make sure Shepard had a good look at their daughter in her arms before she started, "We have a child now, you can't just leave! What if anything happens to you?"

Shepard sighed. She'd wondered how long it would take for Miranda to bring that up... But she was prepared. She had her own weapons... quite literally... Overly theatrical, she turned her head and slowly reached into her bag... but Miranda stopped her before she could show her the new modifications she'd added to her Scorpion...

"Okay," Miranda rolled her eyes. "Maybe you won't get killed on this mission, but still... You can't just leave me here."

"Ah." Shepard raised her hand, smiling widely. "Just wait until you see who I've asked to come over to keep you company..."

Miranda's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who?"

Shepard waved her off. "Don't worry... Should be here any minute..."

A minute passed... then another... and another...

Miranda leaned back in her chair, placing the empty bottle on the table as she lifted Emily to the towel she'd already draped over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving Shepard, who'd started to shift her weight uncomfortably while shooting nervous glances at the still silent door.

"Shouldn't be much longer," Shepard reassured her while Miranda softly patted Emily's back.

"M-hm..."

Shepard's brows furrowed. "Huh, normally our guests are right on time," she mused, shooting another apologetic smile at Miranda.

Finally, accompanied by a burp, the doorbell (once again, Shepard's idea...) rang and the former commander spun on her heels and sprinted towards the door. "Oh thank god!"

Emily smiled at Miranda and the dimple in her cheeks resembling Shepard's caused a slight smile to spread across Miranda's own face. God, she should never have agreed to having a small version of Shepard running (or rather crawling or being carried) around the house... It wasn't exactly helping...

They both turned their heads towards the door when they heard footsteps and Miranda's eyes widened as she recognized their visitor.

"Hey, sis..."

Shepard appeared behind Oriana. "Thought I bring her here before she gets kidnapped again..."

"Har har..." Oriana rolled her eyes. "Don't you have places to be? People to kill?"

Ignoring the younger Lawson's annoyed tone and with her confident smile back in place, Shepard turned to Miranda. "So?"

Miranda pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as convincingly as possible, despite the baby wiggling happily in her arms at the sight of her aunt.

Shepard's smile widened. "Ah, come on. I know how much you love your sister... You'd never kick her out..." Quieter, she added, "And that way you won't stay mad for long... at least not until I get back..."

Oriana, who was still standing close to Shepard, thus having heard what the former commander had muttered, shook her head. "You shouldn't use me as a weapon against my own sister," she state while still smilingly approaching Emily. The baby squealed with delight and reached out with her arms.

"She started it! She used our baby as a way to make me feel bad about leaving them!"

"Miranda..." Oriana shook her head in feigned disbelief as she lifted the baby out of her sister's arms.

"Wha-?" Miranda's mouth hang open. So now it was her fault? How dare they teaming up...

"Please..." Shepard approached her slowly, a pleading look on her face while she evaded Oriana and Emily on her way to Miranda's chair. "I just need to shoot something..."

"Ugh..." Miranda rolled her eyes. Shepard had reached her in the meantime and Miranda couldn't bare the look on her face any longer. It was true... Ever since the end of the Reaper war, Shepard hadn't shot anything (or anyone)... Well, maybe except for Al-Jilani's camera bots, but they didn't really count... In fact, the former commander had quickly adapted to their domestic life and hadn't complained once... Maybe it would help prevent her from hitting the roof in pent up frustration in the near future... and it certainly wasn't a bad idea to being owed a few favors... Miranda sighed and waved her hand dismissively. "Fine... Go."

Shepard's face lit up and she leaned in for a heated kiss which Miranda returned until they heard Oriana clear her throat behind them. "We have children here..." The younger Lawson sister rolled her eyes and turned away, covering Emily's eyes with her hand. "God, get a room, you two!"

Shepard pulled back and winked at Miranda once before she turned and placed a hand on Oriana's shoulder while leaning in to kiss Emily on the forehead. "I entrust you with the two most important things in my life," she stated sternly as she faced Oriana, who just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah... Now get out of here before you add a poem or start singing a cheesy lovesong..."

Shepard contemplated those two options for a second before she nodded, grabbed her bag and left the house without another word (or song).

"Well then..." Oriana turned to her sister, her eyes sparkling. "We've got an entire day just for ourselves!" she exclaimed, smiling at both Emily and Miranda. "I've brought a couple of the corniest vids you can imagine and we'll watch at least two of them while we eat ice cream and talk about boys, or in your case..." She raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Shepard..."

Oriana wasn't even surprised when Miranda immediately shook her head. "I won't tell you anything about my relationship with her that you don't already know!" she stated.

"Oh, come on..." Oriana pleaded as she left the kitchen, only to return seconds later, holding a bag in her free hand. Emily turned in her other arm to inspect the bag with curious eyes. "Just some tiny little cheesy things...?" she offered but Miranda shook her head once more.

"Not gonna happen." But seeing Oriana's pleading eyes, she sighed and added, "But we can talk about boys, if you want... And..." She grimaced. "Watch some of those corny vids... I must warn you, though: we don't have ice cream."

Oriana waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry. Shepard already warned me that you only allow healthy food in the fridge... That's why I came prepared..." She placed the bag on the table in front of Miranda and started rummaging through it. "Ice cream, candy bars... oooh, I don't even remember packing those cookies..." She raised her head. "Those tiny cooling boxes are just priceless," she announced while placing an ice cream box in front of her sister's skeptical eyes.

Miranda groaned. This was going to be a long day...

* * *

_A/N: So there you have it... This chapter is pretty similar to the first chapter from the first story arc, it's set in the present and hints at all the stuff that has changed while the following chapters will tell what happened in the meantime. I hope that makes sense... :) Not much else to say, really... Off to the next chapter...  
Oh yeah, does anyone remember Niftu Cal, the biotic god? I think the names are kinda fitting for their pets... Cal the nice varren and Niftu the bitchy pyjak... But maybe that's just me... :)  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**"No second thoughts? This is your chance to back out..."**  
.

_A/N: One "nice" dinner with Shep & Miri for surfergirl3537, coming right up... :)  
._

"So..." Oriana turned on the couch to face Miranda. Emily, who was lying between the two sisters, was happily hugging the plush volus her aunt had produced from her (obviously well filled) bag before they'd settled in front of the large terminal screen. Miranda averted her eyes and started scrolling through the datapad holding Oriana's promised vids. "You've never told me anything about Shepard..." her sister went on but Miranda still didn't look up.

"There's nothing to tell..."

Oriana threw her arms up in frustration. "Oh come on! I told you all about Danner..."

Miranda's eyebrow rose but her eyes remained on the datapad. "And I wish you hadn't..."

A smile spread across Oriana's face as she poked her sister's shoulder. "Heh, it wasn't _that_ detailed... But anyway, tell me just one thing... You've never really told me how you two met. Was it love at first sight?"

"The first time I saw her, her remains were stuffed into a coffin and I had to start rebuilding her from scratch... Interested in any details?"

"Eww, no!"

A satisfied smile spread across Miranda's face as she continued to scroll through the datapad. Her sister, however, wasn't giving up that easily... Ugh, she should have known... Bloody Lawson genes...

"Well, then... how was your first date? Did she take you out for dinner?"

Miranda paused and her eyes fell on the new ring on her finger. "Yes," she started and finally put the datapad aside, turning to her sister.

Oriana chuckled. "A romantic dinner... Classic..."

"We had our first date very recently, in fact," Miranda continued as her fingers started playing with the ring absent-mindedly.

Oriana's eyebrow rose. "You had your first date just recently?"

Her sister's voice jolted Miranda out of her thoughts and she let go of the ring and turned back to her sister. "We had a galaxy to save," she stated matter-of-factly. "We didn't have time to go on dates at the time..."

Oriana shook her head in disbelief. "You're the weirdest couple I've ever met..."

"Are you done?" Miranda huffed in annoyance and ran a hand through her hair. "Do you want to hear it or not?"

Putting on her most charming smile, Oriana propped her chin in the palm of her hand on the couch's backrest and nodded.

. . .

"Shepard, could you please just stop fidgeting with your clothes?" Miranda reached over the table and slapped Shepard's hand away from her cleavage.

"Well, excuse me for not having the perfect genes and thus the perfect body for something like this..." Shepard answered, her hands already back to pulling at the fabric of her top here and there.

"It's a simple top, Shepard."

Shepard pouted as she pulled on the black top, trying to rearrange the fabric that hung – in a, as the woman in the shop had called it, "artistic way" – from the top's front, held together by a silver brooch. "I like my shirt's. _They _are simple..."

"Yes, but your fans would recognize you if you wore them. The same goes for your armor." Miranda's eyebrow rose at the memory of all the times they had left their apartment just to be surrounded by a crowd of people only seconds later – every one of those encounters ending with them having to run through endless numbers of alley ways just to loose their pursuers until they'd finally been able to go back home... "We wouldn't have even made it into the restaurant..."

Gasping in mock indignation, Shepard placed a hand over her heart. "Are you saying my fans wouldn't recognize me just because I'm dressed adequately for a change?"

Miranda groaned and slapped Shepard's hand away once more, this time being interrupted by the disapproving sound of someone clearing their throat at the side of their table. They both turned and saw a waiter wrinkling his nose at them, an eyebrow raised as he looked down at his two guests. The hand that had slapped Shepard's away only seconds ago immediately closed around the former commander's and Miranda lowered both their hands to the table, lacing their fingers as she raised an expectant eyebrow herself, daring the waiter to voice his opinion. The man, however, knew better than to provoke those gleaming eyes even more and he simply turned around and left without another word.

_That's what I thought..._ Satisfied, Miranda leaned back in her chair and freed her hand from Shepard's, turning her head to let her eyes wander around the room. Why Shepard had insisted to drag her to this fancy restaurant was beyond her... Not that they couldn't afford it, of course. The Alliance still paid well and the way things were going, Miranda was pretty sure they'd never have to, as Shepard once had suggested, "sell their own vids on the extranet to make some extra cash"... She involuntarily shook her head. What an utterly absurd idea... She'd rather start working as a waitress in _Afterlife_ than exposing herself to the masses on the extranet like that! Not that it wasn't worth seeing what happened in their bedroom, mind you... After all, she _was_-

A annoyed grumble made her turn back to Shepard, who'd meanwhile picked up the datapad holding the restaurant's menu, her eyes narrowing as she scrolled through the hundreds of dishes they offered in this place. A smile started tugging at the former operative's lips as she held out her hand. "Need me to translate?" she offered.

The datapad was immediately shoved into her hand and Shepard leaned back in her chair with a sigh, running a hand through her hair. "Why do they always have to insist on writing a menu in French as the only human language available just because they want to sound fancy?"

Miranda shrugged her shoulders while she scrolled through the menu. "Anything you'd like in particular?" she asked over the datapad. Shepard shrugged.

"A burger," she answered grimly, causing Miranda to roll her eyes.

"Well, you could get a... steak, maybe?" Shepard's face lit up and Miranda nodded to herself, settling her eyes on the datapad once more. "And what kind of vegetable would you like with your steak?"

Shepard's brows furrowed in feigned irritation. "What's that?" She smiled.

Miranda's foot crashed against the former commander's shin underneath the table. "Behave yourself," she ordered, her eyes already narrowing again. "It was your idea to go to this place, so you better choose a bloody dish along with a bloody wine or I'm gone!" she hissed, placing the datapad down on the table as she leaned forward, threateningly.

"I..." Shepard ran a hand through her hair once more before she nodded. "I'm sorry, I'm just..." She let her eyes wander around the room. "I'm just not used to places like this," she finally admitted.

"Then why did we come here?" Miranda crossed her arms in front of her chest while she waited for Shepard to answer.

The former commander involuntarily reached for one of her pant's pockets but quickly put her hand back on the table.

"Erm..." Miranda's eyebrow rose expectantly. "Because..." Shepard winced as she searched for the right words. "I... heard the carrots are great here. I think I'll take those to my steak," she hurriedly added, giving Miranda a smile. "What about you?"

* * *

Once the waiter had decided to honor them with his presence again, the ordered dishes were soon enough standing in front of them and they both started eating without another word. Or rather, Shepard shoveling her food into her mouth made it impossible for Miranda to start a conversation and she quickly dismissed the thought and instead focused on the steaming lobster on her plate.

* * *

Miranda was about to lift another spoon of chocolate mousse to her lips as she noticed that Shepard had stopped eating her dessert. She placed her own spoon on the plate again and watched the woman in front of her nervously turn her head from side to side while she'd started to fidget with her outfit again. "Is something the matter?"

Shepard's head whipped around and she hastily cleared her throat. "No." She forced a smile. "Why do you ask? Don't you like the dessert? We could get something else..."

She immediately searched for the waiter but Miranda stopped her and grabbed Shepard's hand before she could wave him over. Holding Shepard's hand, she could feel it shaking slightly in her own hand and Miranda placed them on the table, starting to stroke the back of Shepard's hand with her thumb. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Shepard evaded Miranda's eyes and instead reached for her pocket with her free right hand.

"Jane?" Miranda's soft voice and the rare use of her first name made Shepard wince.

Taking a deep breath, Shepard finally produced a small box out of the pocket and carefully placed it on the table, keeping her hand over it as if to shield it from harm (or rejection).

Miranda's heart skipped a beat and her breathing stopped for a second before she swallowed once. Before she could stop it, the sarcasm she had used so many times before to protect herself and her feelings took over. "You're not proposing to me, are you?" she blurted out, immediately biting her lower lip at her own words. _Please do!_

Noticing Miranda's apologetic look, Shepard relaxed and a playful smile tugged at her lips as she shook her head. "Nah, just some mints..."

A short, nervous laugh escaped Miranda. "You ass."

Shepard's smile widened and she slowly pushed the box towards Miranda. "Want some?"

_You bet!_ Miranda let go of Shepard's hand and carefully took the box in both of her hands. She shot another suspicious glance at Shepard. It wasn't entirely impossible that the box actually held mints, but the nervous glint in Shepard's eyes made Miranda hope for more...

She slowly opened the box and was greeted by a deep black ring with light silver ornaments running through it.

"Miranda Lawson, will you spend the rest of, at least my life – since you'll likely live half as long as the rest of us – with me?"

Still silent, Miranda took the ring out of its box and contemplated it, brushing her fingers over the smooth surface, inspecting the engraved ornaments... A smile spread across her face.

Shepard cleared her throat. "You know, this would be the part where you either say 'yes' or throw it away and storm out of the restaurant... We don't actually have to get married," she quickly added, giving a short laugh. "Don't even know if people still do that nowadays... But you could see it as my commitment to you."

Miranda's eyes were still fixed on the ring and Shepard sighed, continuing, "I hereby swear that I won't flirt with any realtors anymore..." Still no reaction from the woman sitting across from her. "Or get distracted by asari neighbors with a magic touch..." For a split-second, Shepard could have sworn she saw Miranda raise her eyebrow, but her former XO still didn't respond. "I'll also try and do whatever it takes to make you happy and-"

"Oh, you better!"

Miranda's voice almost made Shepard fall off the chair. The former commander quickly regained her composure again and leaned forward on the table, taking Miranda's hands (Shepard's ring already where it belonged) in her own. "Is that a yes?"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Yes, you bloody fool!"

. . .

"I knew it!" Oriana exclaimed triumphantly. "I knew that ring was new!"

Miranda blinked. "Well, yes..." she started. She'd never been one to wear jewelry, so the ring automatically _would_ stand out. There was no need for her sister to point that out... and stare at it this intently... Starting to feel uncomfortable under her sister's sparkling gaze, Miranda quickly grabbed the datapad and pointed at a random vid description before Oriana could embarass her even more...

"How about this one?" She handed the datapad back to Oriana and noticed with satisfaction, that she'd finally managed to throw her sister off balance. Oriana blinked in confusion but then shrugged and approached the terminal in front of them. "Didn't know you liked elcor love stories..."


	3. Chapter 3

**"Still impatient, Commander?"**

.

_"Pleasantly surprised. I didn't know you harbored such strong feelings for me."_

"Oh god..." Miranda leaned back against the couch, burying her face in her hands. "How much longer?"

Oriana activated her omni-tool and gave a short laugh before she turned back to her sister. "We're about halfway through... Just three more hours..."

Miranda growled, causing Emily to slightly move between the two sisters. The baby had fallen asleep more than two hours ago, making Miranda wish she'd followed her child's example as soon as the two main elcor protagonists had started stomping through a park, wordily confessing their love to each other for the following couple of hours...

"You know... We could just turn it off and you tell me something else about Shepard," her sister offered with a devilish grin.

Miranda groaned. She'd always been quick in gauging a situation, and this time, the odds were definitely _not_ in her favor... Spending three more hours watching what had been praised as a 'light-hearted, amusing elcor romantic comedy' or talking about her relationship and her feelings... Either way, she'd lose (either her mind or her pride)... She peeked at the screen once more and winced.

_"Excited. I would like to introduce you to my family!"_

_"Doubting. I am not sure if they will like me..."_

As if suddenly feeling insulted by the scenes playing on the screen in front of her, Emily stirred and started whimpering, sparing her mother Oriana's expectant silence. Miranda immediately grabbed the baby and shot up from the couch.

"It'll only take a minute," she assured her, smiling apologetically. _Or twenty..._

Oriana sighed and nodded, knowing from her sister's expression that she shouldn't even bother asking if she needed any help... _They should really stop using that poor baby as an excuse before she's completely traumatized..._

"I'll just quickly change her diapers," Miranda mused, heading for the stairs. "And maybe feed her. She looks hungry... Might even be time for a bath..."

Her sister rolled her eyes as she paused the video on the terminal. "I get it, it'll take a while. Just don't think you'll get out of this that easily..." Hearing Miranda's footsteps on the stairs, Oriana turned and started wandering around the room. If Miranda didn't want to entertain her, she'd find her own entertainment...

* * *

Once Emily was fed, bathed, freshly clothed and Miranda was out of ideas on how to postpone her sister's questions any longer, she walked back into the living room, a happy Emily in her arms.

Oriana raised her head from the couch she was sitting on, pointing at Niftu who was sitting in her lap, inspecting Emily's plush volus. "I just made the acquaintance of your second pet. Bit grumpy," she added.

Miranda smiled. "You should see him with..." She leaned forward, whispering, "Shepard."

Immediately, the pyjak hissed and turned his head from side to side in search for said person, stopping with a baffled look as he noticed the false alarm...

Accompanied by Oriana's raised eyebrows, Miranda sat back down on the couch and placed Emily back on her blanket between them. The baby immediately turned on her belly and clumsily crawled towards Oriana, snatching her plush volus out of Niftu's grasp with an indignant expression. Both sisters snickered as they watched the pyjak jump to the ground and gracefully walk towards the stairs without a backwards glance, obviously once more hurt in his pride and heading back to his hammock...

"That reminds me," Oriana turned on the couch and picked up a picture frame she'd placed next to her when Niftu had jumped into her lap. "While he was accompanying me on my way through your living room, we found this..."

She handed one of Shepard's framed certificates to Miranda, Emily's watchful eyes following its way as it was being passed over her head. "Her date of birth is on it," Oriana went on. "According to that, her birthday was just recently..."

"Her birthday..." Miranda nodded absent-mindeldy, looking at the certificate in her hands before her mind drifted off...

. . .

"Do you know what day it is?"

Shepard spun around, her eyes wide in horror. "Don't!" She raised a warning finger. "Say. It."

A smile spread across Miranda's face as she entered the bathroom, snaking her arms around Shepard's waist as the former commander turned back to the mirror, inspecting her image skeptically. She kissed Shepard's neck and then rested her chin on her shoulder, following Shepard's example of looking into the mirror in front of them. "You could subtract the two years you were practically dead," she offered, pressing her front against Shepard's back. "That would make you about six years younger than me..." _God, I'm old..._

Shepard snorted and shook her head. "Well, yes, but that wouldn't make a difference since _your_ perfect genes don't seem to allow any wrinkles..." She sighed. "Mine do."

She turned in the embrace and swung her arms around Miranda, a pleading look on her face as she asked, "Do we _have_ to celebrate my birthday? Liara's babysitting Emily, Cal and Niftu are banished to the guest room, we have the house to ourselves... Can't we just... I don't know... install a shooting range in our garden?" The roll of Miranda's eyes told Shepard that her secret dream would have to wait a little longer... She shrugged. "Besides, we never celebrate _yours_..."

Miranda freed herself from the embrace and patted Shepard on the shoulder as she circled her. "And we never will, because _my_ birthday only reminds me of the fact that I didn't have an actual birth, nor do I have a mother or any childhood memories I wish to remember." She winked, showing that those things didn't really bother her anymore before she continued, "And it would be a shame if you missed out on your present..." Shoving Shepard towards the bathroom door, she added, "So go on, get the champagne. I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Grumbling, the former commander obliged and headed downstairs and into the kitchen.

She scanned the refrigerator's interior in search for the bottle and her eyes narrowed. It looked rather stuffed today... _Strawberries, cream, chocolate... ugh, where's that damn champagne?_

Finally spotting the bottle with the – in her opinion overprized _and_ overestimated – drink behind the huge bowl filled with – as Shepard suspected, costily imported – strawberries (god knew when Miranda intended to eat _those_...), she grabbed it, followed by a few of the strawberries, and placed it all on the countertop next to the refrigerator before starting to rummage through the kitchen's cupboards in search of two glasses.

_Maybe I should get some more new scars, they could obscure the wrinkles..._

A loud sound from upstairs made her pause just as she placed the glasses next to the champagne. She raised her head, shouting, "Was that you?"

Miranda's snort could even be heard downstairs before the former operative answered, "Was that a serious assumption? Of course it wasn't me! Your bloody pets are tearing our guest room apart!"

"_Our_ pets," Shepard corrected her to what seemed to be the hundredth time. She sighed. _Why are they suddenly just _my_ pets whenever anything happens? _

She turned to the kitchen door. "I'll go and make sure they don't break anything-" A clattering sound interrupted her and she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Anything _more_..." she corrected.

"No! Don't come upstairs! I'll... take care of them!" came Miranda's panicked voice from upstairs.

Shepard's brows furrowed. "Are you sure everything's all right up there?"

"Except for those little pests... yes, everything's perfectly fine up here. I just..." A pause. "Lost my socks... might take a little while longer..."

"You don't even wear socks..."

"Stockings! You have to listen more closely, darling. I said 'stockings'." Miranda cleared her throat. "Did you get the canapés already?"

Shepard sighed as she turned back to the kitchen. She could hear a door being opened and only seconds later, Miranda's voice rang down from upstairs. "If I hear just one more sound from you two, I swear, that will be the last time you'll be able to even utter any sounds..." At that, the rumbling upstairs immediately stopped and, obviously pleased, Miranda closed and locked the door again.

Shepard could hear footsteps on the stairs by the time she placed the plate with canapés on the kitchen table. After throwing one of the strawberries into her mouth, she grabbed the champagne to fill the glasses. The sound of Miranda clearing her throat behind her made her turn and with a yelp, the bottle fell out of Shepard's hand and immediately broke into little pieces, covering the floor around the former commander.

Smiling, Miranda placed a hand on the kitchen's doorframe and leisurely leaned against it. Yes, she definitely still had it in her... "My, Commander Shepard, you dropped something. Would you like me to pick it up for you?"

A weak, raspy sound was her answer and she raised an expectant eyebrow. Shepard's wide eyes were fixed on the black, _very_ revealing and almost non-existent garment being presented to her and Miranda's smile widened. She hadn't expected anything else, really... Testingly, she leaned forward but stopped as Shepard immediately started coughing, almost choking on the strawberry she'd forgotten to chew before swallowing hard at the sight in front of her, which was now blocking her airway.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Miranda leaned back against the doorframe. Those credits were _definitely_ well spent, she decided, satisfied with the result of her appearance as she watched Shepard's face take on a slightly redder tone, oblivious to its actual origin. Her smile, however, suddenly vanished and a worried expression took over as the coughing didn't stop. "Shepard, are you all right?"

Nodding, Shepard raised a finger and closed her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths while she fanned herself with her free hand, forcing the strawberry down her throat.

After a few more seconds, Shepard finally opened her eyes again, the predatory gleam returning immediately as they fell on Miranda once more and the strawberry incident was immediately forgotten...

"Phew..." She ran a hand through her hair, her skin tone slowly turning back to normal again. "I expected a new washing mashine or something like that..."

Miranda's eyebrow rose and she placed a hand on her hip, eliciting a sharp intake of air from Shepard. Clearly, the former commander had adapted almost too well to their domestic life... She needed to change that... immediately!

With one swift move of her hand, the shards were shoved aside by her biotics and Miranda slowly approached Shepard, all the champagne and canapés quickly forgotten...

. . .

"So...?"

Miranda blinked. Her head rose again and she turned back to her sister. _No need to tell her everything..._ She shrugged. "You're right. I guess I must have forgotten about it..."

"You forgot your girlfriend's, wife's –whatever– birthday? What kind of girlfriend, wife –whatever– are you?"

A wide grin spread across Miranda's face as she shrugged once more. "A bad one, I guess..."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: I am terribly sorry for my long absence but it seems like I needed a break, plus this chapter was giving me quite a hard time and thus held up all the following chapters..._

_Anyway, thanks a lot for all your reviews, likes, follows, etc. in the meantime, I haven't forgotten about you all... :)  
_

_Oh, almost forgot: a huuuuge "thank you" to Ines for keeping me company in those dull, unproductive months, thanks a lot for your help! So she's basically responsible (in a good way) for every future chapter 'cause I probably wouldn't have uploaded them without her encouragement... :)  
_

_So for all of you who're still following this, I'll upload a few more chapters, and how about a short glimpse at what the future brings? id: 8951245 (or just search my stories for "Shepard Charm") ... Enjoy :)  
_

* * *

**"I like to know where I fit in the world."**

**.  
**

Oriana's skeptical eyes remained on her sister for a little while longer. Miranda's turned head was indicating that she was back to watching the vid, but the wide grin her sister had on her face ever since Oriana had mentioned Shepard's birthday proved that she wasn't actually following the scenes on the terminal in front of them...

Still, her sister's silence told Oriana it would be hopeless to try and ask her about the grin's origin... she would just pretend she couldn't hear her – like she'd done for the last five minutes already...

So, with a sigh, Oriana let the topic go and instead asked a question that had been nagging her ever since she'd inspected the bookshelf at the far side of the room...

"Miri, who's Hannah Miller?"

Miranda's grin faded and she slowly turned her head back to her sister.

"Where did you get that name?" It wasn't an accusation and Miranda's raised eyebrow spoke simply of surprise, which made Oriana decide to go on. She nodded towards the bookshelf.

"There's a holo-pic of you, Shepard and a woman on your bookshelf, signed 'Hope to see you again soon, Hannah Miller'..."

Miranda nodded in thought. _I knew I should have hidden it better... Ugh, I should have known not every person stays away from those books like Shepard does..._

"She's..." Biting her lip, Miranda lowered her eyes to Emily who'd fallen asleep again between the two sisters, clutching her plush volus. "She's our mother," she mumbled, still evading her sister's eyes which immediately widened at her words.

"Our mother?"

"Well, one of them anyway..." Miranda hurriedly added, grimacing guiltily as she met Oriana's eyes.

"How did you... Why didn't you..." Oriana shook her head in confusion.

"I was going to tell you," Miranda placed a soothing hand on her sister's arm, "Had it went well..."

Oriana's eyes shot up. "It didn't?"

Her sister shrugged. "Well, she's... not what I'd expected..."

"Oh wow, please tell me you're not _that_ shallow, Miri..."

Miranda winced. "Well... you've seen the picture... I just assumed..."

"She's our mother!"

"_One_ of them," Miri corrected, her eyes narrowing as they shot an accusing glare towards the bookshelf...

. . .

"The others will be a bit harder to find, I'm afraid..." Liara's holographic image furrowed its brows. "Hannah Miller was one of the first, I can only assume they kept the names better hidden in the following years. Maybe because Mr. Lawson's requirements for possible donors changed over time and the women were wealthier, which means they'll have paid a great amount of money to keep their identities hidden, maybe they even made anonymous donations... maybe he stole the DNA... but I'll see what I can do... if she's still interested after today, that is..."

Now it was Shepard's turn to furrow her brows as she looked at her friend's image on her omni-tool. "Of course she'll be. Why wouldn't she?"

"Just... see for yourself..."

With an apologetic smile and a short nodd, Liara ended the call, leaving a confused Shepard standing alone in the living room of their house. She didn't have much time to contemplate the asari's words however, as the sound of Miranda's heels coming down the stairs rang out into their living room right that moment.

The former commander raised her head and smiled as she spotted a nervous Miranda clutching their daughter to her chest.

"She's not here yet, is she?" The raven-haired woman shot a quick glance towards the closed front door. "I heard voices and I thought..." She trailed off, her eyes darting around the room until they settled on the baby in her arm as if only now noticing Emily's presence. "I wasn't sure if I should bring Emily down, it might be a bit much to take in on the first meeting, but I couldn't just leave her alone upstairs, she might wake up and-"

With two quick steps, Shepard was standing in front of the rambling woman and placed her hands on either side of Miranda's waist, smiling at her. "I was just talking to Liara," she explained – in case Miranda suspected her of hiding her mother somewhere in the room, "And I think your mother should meet every member of our family, _especially_ when they're as adorable as this little one here..." She lightly nuzzled Emily's cheek with her nose which elicited a giggle from the baby before she placed a kiss on Miranda's forehead. "It'll be fine, don't worry..."

Miranda released a shuddering breath but immediately tensed again when the door bell rang only seconds later. An excited Cal shot past the couple and Shepard's hands on her hips were the only thing saving the former operative from loosing her balance. Cal had meanwhile reached the door and was excitedly bouncing in front of it, turning his head back to them expectantly. Shepard shot a quick glance over her shoulder, her eyebrow raised as she eyed the varren skeptically. "Well, maybe not necessarily _every_ member of our family..." she stated before turning back to the paralyzed woman in her arms.

"You okay?"

"Is it too late to pretend we're not home?"

Smiling, Shepard shook her head and gently led Miranda towards the door. "To a visit we invited her in the first place? Definitely." She shot Miranda a mischievous smirk. "Besides, I'm sure she's already heard your squeal before..."

As expected, Miranda's posture immediately regained her trademark grace and she set her narrowed eyes on Shepard. "I did not squeal," she simply stated before activating the door controls with newfound confidence... just to freeze once again when her eyes fell on their visitor...

* * *

"I'm glad you could make the time." Shepard shot the woman sitting opposite of her another warm smile.

Hannah Miller was in her late fifties, wearing jeans and a plain grey shirt that seemed to be just a bit too tight around her midsection. As she nodded, long strands of blond hair fell into her face which she quickly tucked behind her ears, oblivious to Miranda's unmoving gaze on her from across the table.

_Blond hair, I don't have blond hair! I don't have brown eyes either! We don't even share the same physique... What if we share the same intellect? Her attire could be a disguise... Oh god, please let it be a disguise! Is that a food stain on her shirt?_

Oblivious to Miranda's inner turmoil, Hannah waved her hand dismissively as she took another large gulp from her coffee cup before placing it back on the table and running the back of her hand over her mouth to catch the few drops of coffee that had gathered at the corner there. This simple act alone caused Miranda to raise a disapproving eyebrow while she remained silent, sitting on a chair next to Shepard, her eyes still fixed in disbelief on their guest.

_It could be a simple mistake, I'm sure there are lots of Hannah Millers in the galaxy, maybe it's the wrong one... even Liara can be wrong sometimes... God, there's still coffee on her hand, doesn't she see that?_

Hannah meanwhile beamed at Shepard. "Of course, dear. I hadn't much else to do anyway, I was glad you called. Although I have to admit, it came as a surprise after such a long time..." Hannah slightly leaned forward on the table. "How did you even find me? Did Mr. Lawson tell you about me?"

Shepard shook her head, smiling politely. "We had a little help from a friend," she answered vaguely, which seemed to satisfy Hannah. The blond woman nodded and smiled absent-mindedly.

"He was such a nice man..." she mused and Shepard could feel the woman next to her tense and quickly placed a soothing hand on Miranda's thigh. "What's he doing nowadays?"

"He... passed away a few years ago..."

Both Hanna's and Shepard's head whipped around at the unexpected answer coming from Miranda who had been silent this entire time up until now.

Hannah's eyes widened. "Oh, you poor child. You must have been crushed..." Without warning, her hand shot out and tried to close itself around Miranda's, who quickly pulled hers away with a panicked expression.

The short silence that followed was soon interrupted by Shepard clearing her throat to drown out the sound of her kicking Miranda under the table. Miranda's head immediately whipped around and her narrowed eyes dueled with Shepard's for a second before her jaw clenched and she guiltily placed her hand back on the table, allowing Hannah to place hers over it in a soothing gesture.

"What happened?"

Miranda cleared her throat, forcing her eyes away from the coffee stain on the back of Hannah's hand. "He... fell..."

"He fell?"

"Yes." Miranda nodded eagerly. "He was... working in his lab and... tripped..." _...over his big ego, that bastard..._

"Terrible," Hannah muttered. "He was so full of life..." She released Miranda's hand after another gentle pat and emptied the rest of her coffee with one last – and to Miranda's great displeasure loud – gulp. "Mr. Lawson was such a charming man, it's a shame he's gone..." she declared, placing the empty cup down on the table with a sad sigh.

Shepard's eyes immediately widened and her head shot to the woman sitting next to her. That was definitely _not_ a good topic for a relaxed afternoon get-together... As if to confirm Shepard's fear, Miranda's lips had thinned and the previously neatly clasped hands in her lap balled into fists, a hint of blue already surrounding them. Before Shepard could open her mouth to try and lighten the mood though, Hannah had already continued – surprising both Shepard and Miranda with her next words.

"And his beautiful and intelligent daughter already has a family of her own..."

* * *

"So?" Shepard propped her chin in the palm of her hand as she turned to Miranda lying in bed next to her.

The raven-haired woman groaned and turned away from her, her back now facing Shepard's grin. "Could we just never _ever_ talk about this day again, please?"

Shepard's brows furrowed and she reached out, gently running her hand down Miranda's arm. "Why not?"

The soft tone in her voice caused Miranda to groan once more and turn on her back again, evading Shepard's eyes and instead staring at the ceiling. After a moment of contemplation, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"I was hoping to find some closure by meeting her, just like I had been hoping to find closure when I faced my father at _Sanctuary_, but just like then, it didn't help..." Shrugging once more, she added quietly, "It didn't change anything. I don't feel any different..."

Shepard took Miranda's right hand in hers and intertwined their fingers, raising them to her lips and kissing the back of Miranda's hand before she inched closer to her, wrapping her arm around the other woman's waist.

"You already have a family, you don't need to try and fill those spots with strangers," she whispered sleepily, closing her eyes as she nestled her head against Miranda's neck.

In the darkness of their bedroom, with Shepard's soon deep and even breathing against her neck, for the first time that day Miranda relaxed and a satisfied smile spread across her face before she, too, closed her eyes to drift off into sleep.

. . .

"She's our mother..." Oriana whispered, still in awe.

Miranda nodded and sighed, running a hand over her forehead. "I know. Hard to believe..."

"Did she... I mean, did she know why..."

Miranda shook her head and Oriana nodded in understanding. "Guess we'll never know..."

"_Or_ understand why he did it, even if he could still tell us," Miranda added with a serious expression.

"She sounds like such a nice person," Oriana went on, her eyes still distant. "Make sure you invite me to your next get-together..."

Miranda's head whipped around. "Did you hear what I just told you? That woman is irritating and possesses an infuriating need to touch and hug everyone around her!"

A grin spread across Oriana's face as she inched closer – making sure she didn't wake Emily – and wrapped her arms around her sister. "Like this?" she challenged.

Miranda huffed in annoyance. "You're my sister, you're allowed to do that."

"She's your mother!"

Miranda rolled her eyes and freed herself from the embrace, shaking her head. "Now you sound like Shepard..."

At that, Oriana's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected it so soon, but this was her chance! With her most convincing innocent smile, she purred, "Speaking of Shepard..."

Miranda's head immediately shot back to the terminal and her fingers flew over her activated omni-tool, turning up the volume while she declared, "Well, I'd say we've talked long enough now, don't you think? We've missed an entire half hour of the storyline already..."

Oriana groaned. _Chance blown..._


	5. Chapter 5

**"Hope you don't mind me crashing this little party of yours."**

**.  
**

"Just tell her already!"

"Tell _him_... That's the male, Ori."

Oriana's head turned to her sister, her eyes narrowing skeptically. "You sure?"

Miranda shrugged her shoulders. "I think so..."

Oriana crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed, facing her sister. "How long will you keep pretending you're actually paying attention to the vid?" Miranda clicked her tongue in disapproval and waved a hand at her.

"Shush, her ex-boyfriend just showed up..." And noticing her sister's still raised eyebrow, Miranda added, "What? That's dramatic..."

Oriana snorted. "Yeah, right..." She shook her head as she saw that Miranda still preferred to stoically keep her eyes fixed on the monitor, her entire being oozing sarcasm without her even having to say a word... It seemed Oriana would have to change her strategy if she wanted to get her sister to talk again... Maybe start with something innocuous...

She let her eyes wander around the room and sighed, hoping that would get Miranda's attention. "Your house is huge..." she mused. "_And_ pretty seclusive..." She shot a quick sideglance at her sister to make sure she had her attention – she had... Even though Miranda's eyes were still on the monitor, they'd stopped following the actor's movements. Oriana smiled and went on, "I bet it was pretty hard to find a property like that..."

Miranda rolled her eyes and turned to her sister who nodded encouragingly at her. She tucked one of her legs under and sighed. "All right, fine... Yes, it wasn't exactly easy to find..." _Don't think I don't see what you're trying to do..._

. . .

"Well then, Ms..." The realtor scrolled through her datapad before she raised her head again, the fake smile never leaving her face. "Smith..."

Shepard nodded, proud of the name she'd come up with a while ago, which caused Miranda standing next to her to sigh inwardly._ That name again..._

Knowing Shepard was too distracted by her pride right now, Miranda inconspicuously glanced over at her. The former commander had definitely changed... Her red hair was longer now than in her days as the 'savior of the galaxy', making it easier for her to walk among civilians without stirring any attention. Today, she'd pulled it up into a ponytail, a few loose strands falling into her face. Her eyes were still the same piercing blue, but without her scars (which Miranda had persisted she should get removed – at least the ones on her face), there was not much left of the old Shepard – at least not for people who didn't know her personally... like that realtor in front of them...

"Let me show you the apartment." The realtor gracefully turned on her heels and led them into the living room, already praising its large windows...

"Shall we?" Shepard offered Miranda her arm and she swung hers around it as they followed the woman. The leather jacket Shepard wore was cool to Miranda's touch. Shepard seemed to have developed a certain liking for that garment, since she wore it almost every time they left the apartment nowadays...

Although she'd more than once joked about trying to walk around in her old N7-shirts just to see if people would recognize her _then_, she'd settled for a plain black shirt this time, much to Miranda's relief. Completing her disguise were dark jeans, which, as Miranda had to admit, accentuated the former commander's still well-shaped backside perfectly... All in all, she still looked very presentable and Miranda had given a sigh of relief as Shepard had assured her that the colony outfit – the one Cerberus had equipped Shepard's wardrobe on the Normandy-SR2 with – she'd exited their bedroom with this morning had simply been a joke and the former commander had quickly returned in the clothes she was wearing now. Under Miranda's watchful eyes, the unfavorable garment had swiftly been disposed of, making her wonder once more why on Earth it had survived this long in the first place...

Miranda herself had, after years of getting accustomed to wearing it, parted with her beloved jumpsuit. It would still take some time for her to feel completely comfortable in a shirt and normal pants, but at least they were still skin tight to make the change easier for her...

"...luxurious bathroom for each bedroom," the realtor's voice jolted Miranda out of her musing. Her eyes narrowed as they settled on the woman's back in front of her. _Did she just emphasize the word 'bedroom'?_

The realtor turned around, a wide smile on her face as she nodded towards the bed standing prominently in the room they'd just entered and Miranda's lips thinned in concentration while she carefully observed the woman's body language.

_Yes she did..._ she concluded in surprise after only two seconds of watching the flirtatious woman. She followed the line of sight of the woman's gleaming eyes and found Shepard with a similar smile plastered on her face. Miranda's eyes widened in disbelief. _Is she flirting with her? In front of ME?_

* * *

"So? What do you think?" Shepard turned around in her skycar seat, looking at Miranda. Her former XO had been _very_ silent during the entire tour through that last apartment...

Miranda's jaw tightened, but she kept her eyes straight ahead as she simply answered, "No."

Shepard's eyebrow rose. "No?"

"No."

"Would you care to elaborate on your monosyllabic answer?"

"No."

Shepard sighed and started the skycar. "Fine. In that case I'll call the realtor, see if she's got something else for us..."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Miranda's sarcastic laugh made Shepard set the skycar back down again and she turned in her seat once more.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Miranda's narrowed eyes were on her now. "You know exactly what I mean!" But as Shepard simply shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head, she added, "I'm sure she would just _love_ to show you _many_ more bedrooms and bathrooms... and kitchen countertops... and couches... and walls... and sideboards... and-"

Still oblivious, Shepard interrupted her. "What else do you expect from a realtor?"

"I expect her to _not_ touch my girlfriend when she shows her the bathroom and I expect her to _not_ press herself against you when she shows us the kitchen cupboards!" Miranda's eyes gleamed with fury now as she pointed an accusing finger at Shepard. "And I expect _you_ to _not_ grin like a bloody lunatic the entire time and encourage her to do so!"

She activated her omni-tool and angrily started hacking commands into it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Liara. She can help us find a house just as well as that bloody woman. And at least _she's_ over you..."

"Heh, you sure about that? Okay, that was a- Wait, what are you doing? Ugh... Miri, please get back in the car. It was a joke, okay? A joke! Come on, people are already looking in our direction..."

. . .

Oriana shook her head. "Wow, you sound like the perfect couple... I'm surprised you haven't ripped each other's heads off yet... It's a miracle you're still together!"

Sighing, Miranda ran a hand through her hair and nodded. "Yes, she can be pretty infuriating sometimes..."

"Heh, and she seems to be the only person who's willing to keep up with your moods..."

Miranda's head whipped around. "Pardon?"

"You heard me..."

"Absurd." Miranda huffed, shaking her head. "I'm not moody..."

A playful smile spread across Oriana's face. "Yes you are," she stated, knowing she'd get away with it...

"Oh, like _you_'ve never had an argument with Danner..."

Her sister crossed her arms and smiled triumphanty. "No, we haven't, in fact."

"Must be a very dull relationship then, I take it..."

"Well, we can't all date the great Commander Shepard, now can we?" Oriana chuckled. "Although I bet _she_ wouldn't mind... Ow!" She shot her sister an accusing glare as she rubbed her now aching shoulder from Miranda's slap.

_That's it! No more sugarcoating for you... On to more interesting questions..._

A mischievous grin tugged at Oriana's lips as she set her eyes on her target once more. "There must be something _very _compelling about her since you two are still together..." She raised her eyebrows expectantly, but Miranda noticed the gleam in her sister's eyes and sensed the trap.

Nodding eagerly, Miranda's eyes started gleaming in feigned excitement. "Why yes, indeed..." She leaned forward, a smile spreading across her face when she noticed Oriana's anticipation. "There was this one time when we were on a mission, completely run out of ammo and we had to fight our way back to the shuttle combining our biotics to tear through the enemy hordes. She saved my life more than once that day and ended up charging into a group of about ten husks, ripping them to shreds with her bare hands, giving me time to make it back to the shuttle without a scratch," she told, a dreamy smile on her lips at the memory.

Oriana's eyebrow rose. "Okay, there's _definitely_ something seriously wrong with you two..." She shook her head. She'd have to find another way to make her sister admit her feelings for Shepard... "I'm surprised you didn't rush right after her at the mention of killing..."

A smile spread across Miranda's face as she propped her chin in the palm of her hand. "And miss the chance to catch up with my sister?" She winked at her. "Never."

* * *

_Next up: we'll finally learn more about Emily's origin...  
_


	6. Chapter 6

**"You know me. I'm always up for hitting things..."**

**.  
**

Oriana shrugged. "In that case, since we're already sitting on this comfortable couch..." She grinned. "You know, I didn't come all the way here just to watch movies and eat ice cream with you..."

Miranda bit her lower lip and turned back to the terminal. "Did her lover just crash their wedding ceremony?" she croaked weakly, shooting a hopeful glance at her sister and grimacing when she noticed Oriana's serious expression. That strategy wasn't going to work this time...

"I just want to have a trivial conversation with my sister..." Oriana sighed, the sad tone in her voice causing Miranda to fully turn her head back to her sister. "You're not working for Cerberus anymore, you don't have to guard your feelings the way you had to before. No one's listening in on us right now, everything you say stays between the two of us and for god's sake, Miranda, I'm your sister!"

Miranda opened her mouth but Oriana silenced her with a raised hand. "I'm not done yet! Don't think I don't know exactly what you'd like to say right now. We share the same genes, remember? And before you start denying everything I said, just listen: I know you had to keep your feelings in check to be the excellent operative you certainly were and I understand your caution, because frankly, at that time, you _couldn't_ trust anyone around you, but things have changed... You don't have to pretend you don't care anymore." She snorted. "You're doing a really crappy job of it anyway... I've seen the way you look at her..." Oriana smiled down at Emily before she added, "And you have a child together, there's gotta be a lot more stories to tell..."

There was silence for a minute while Miranda contemplated her sister's words. God, how much she hated it when people were right about her! She took a deep breath and turned on the couch to face Oriana, trying to ignore the spark in her sister's eyes at her victory...

"Very well... You're right. I guess it won't hurt if I told you something... more personal..." she started and smiled down at her daughter.

. . .

"Shepard, I believe you are aware of the fact that we are not on a deserted planet anymore." Turning her head, Miranda added, "They have speed limits here..."

Shepard turned her head away from the skycar's windshield and waved her off, temporarily steering the vehicle with only one hand as she sped through the traffic. "Contrary to popular belief, I've never caused a crash with any of my vehicles during my times as the _savior_ of the galaxy... All my companions returned to the Normandy safe and sound after every mission, didn't they?"

The harsh sound of a passing truck's horn made Miranda grab Shepard's free hand and force it back on the steering controls. "Keep both your hands there, woman!" With a heavy sigh, she sank back into her seat only to squeeze her eyes shut at the horrible noise shrilling out of the skycar's sound system at that moment, accompanying the booming bass that had increased her headache with every passing second ever since Shepard had started the car. "And what about this awful music?" With a groan, she slammed against the controls in frustration until the music stopped, hoping the ringing in her ears would vanish after a few more minutes...

Shepard smiled in amusement as she passed a skycab. "Ah, all those nights at _Flux_..." She sighed before turning to Miranda after she pulled ahead of a honking skyvan. "That was before your time," she added and Miranda rolled her eyes.

"You don't say..."

Nodding, Shepard sped into an alley to their right, almost colliding with one of the surrounding building walls in the process. "Tali gave it to me. She always liked the music at _Flux_, said she'd see if she could get a copy..."

"I see your taste in music hasn't changed much..." Miranda shuddered, remembering all the awful sounds she'd been greeted with whenever entering the former commander's cabin...

Shepard simply shrugged and evaded an oncoming skycar by mere inches. Miranda groaned, resting her head on the passenger seat's headrest. "Thank god we're on our way to the hospital anyway..."

* * *

Karin Chakwas clasped her hands and placed them on the desk in front of her as she eyed the two women sitting at the opposite side of the table.

Miranda had crossed her legs and, ever the punctilious operative she once was, had her hands clasped in her lap, calmly returning Dr. Chakwas' look. Shepard, on the other hand, was casually leaning back in her chair and let her eyes wander over the room, her eyes narrowing from time to time to get a better look at the many pictures hanging on the wall behind the doctor, most of them showing her with former Normandy crew-members...

A smile started tugging at the corner of Dr. Chakwas' mouth as she leaned forward and started, "Well, Ms. Lawson, as you know, I have been giving a lot of thought to our... discussion about your infertility..." Miranda's jaw tightened for a split second at the mention of the term, but she still managed to nod, signaling the doctor to go on. "I've looked over the documents from your father's research and I still think we might have a chance of success at a later point... But for now, as your doctor, I would dissuade you from any rash decisions until we've done some more testing..."

Miranda nodded again. She hadn't been fooling herself about her chances to carry a child and she had expected Dr. Chakwas' caution. After all, Miranda Lawson wasn't known for her rash decisions anyway... She turned her head slightly as she felt Shepard's hand on hers, lacing their fingers and squeezing lightly.

"However..." Dr. Chakwas' voice made Miranda turn back to the doctor while Shepard continued inspecting the room's decoration. "The progress we've made so far is very promising. I'm surprised you didn't contact me earlier and instead went to that Medical Center on Illium..." Dr. Chakwas gave a short laugh. "Last time I heard, Dr. Grenway was dismissed from employment after they found his liquor stash..." She lovingly patted a locked drawer on her desk. "You just have to be careful where you hide it, that's what I always say..." she added, winking at them. "But back to our task at hand... I'm sure we will be able to find a way for you to have a child, it just might take some time... However..." Miranda's eyebrow rose questioningly. "There's still another option..." The doctor pointedly looked at Shepard who'd leaned forward and grabbed a framed picture from Dr. Chakwas' desk, smiling as she recognized the entire Normandy crew, oblivious to the both women now looking at her.

Miranda nodded, deep in thought. She'd certainly thought about that option, but so far, they hadn't had the chance to talk about it...

She shrugged. Oh well, they'd have to talk about it sooner or later anyway... She fully turned in her chair, an expectant smile on her face. Shepard finally noticed the movement next to her and raised her head, putting the picture back on the desk.

"Hm?" Her eyes narrowed as she looked back and forth between Miranda and Dr. Chakwas. She paused before her expression changed, realizing what those gleaming eyes meant. "O-ho no..." She shook her head vehemently. "No, definitely not! Out of the question!"

Miranda's smile widened and she grabbed Shepard's arm, purring, "Oh, baby... Please?"

Shepard immediately withdrew her arm. "No!" she declared once more, trying to bring as much distance between her and her former XO as possible. But seeing that Miranda's expression didn't change, she changed her tactic...

"Please don't make me do this!" she whined, but Miranda still seemed unimpressed, her smile telling Shepard that there was absolutely no way out for her this time... She sighed and pointed an accusing finger at Miranda, her eyes narrowing. "You're gonna regret this, Ms. Lawson..."

Dr. Chakwas nodded in satisfaction, smiling amusedly at her future patient's struggle. She immediately started rummaging through her drawers, piling up datapads on her desk. After all, she'd considered this option for a while now and had done a little research, just in case...

Clearing her throat to get her visitor's attention again, she placed a liquor bottle next to the datapads, followed by three glasses. It was time to celebrate!

"Serrice Ice Brandy, anyone?"

. . .

"Just like that? She just agreed to it and that was it?" Oriana reached for the almost empty cookie box, her eyes never leaving Miranda. Her sister's eyebrow rose and Oriana chuckled. "Thought so..."

"I should have known it wouldn't be that easy..." Miranda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Oriana leaned closer, biting into the last cookie. "And what happened?"

"I received a call a couple of days later..."

. . .

"Did she behave?" Miranda's forehead creased in worry as she sat down at the free chair in front of the large desk.

Armando Bailey shut down his terminal and turned towards her. He shrugged. "Sure. As soon as we pulled her off the officer and put her in the cell. She's lucky it happened in my district. There won't be any charges." He gave a short laugh. "Hell, after I told him who'd battered him, he even wanted an autograph!"

Miranda's eyebrow rose and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I hope she gave it to him without any more complaints..."

Bailey nodded eagerly. "Yup. Even added one of her famous bumper stickers _and_ a VI."

Miranda rolled her eyes, remembering how Shepard had tried to install one of those VIs in their house, startling her when she'd unsuspectingly opened their fridge one day...

_'You sure you wanna eat any more of that, soldier? The Alliance sure has no use for chubbies...'_

Needless to say, the VI's core had been yanked out and thrown at its real-life model as soon as she'd yawningly entered the kitchen not soon after...

"So, you ready to take her home?"

"Can I leave her to rot in her cell some more?"

Bailey gave a short laugh and got up from his chair. If he'd get a nickel every time he's heard that sentence... "You understand that, in her state, I can't let her drive a skycar, right?"

Miranda sighed and nodded, following Bailey to the holding cells, ignoring the inmates' responses to her presence... They stopped in front of a rather empty holding cell (a favor from Bailey for Shepard's accomplishments, no doubt...) and Shepard raised her head as she noticed her visitors, smiling at them as she got up from the floor. She turned to the salarian still sitting on the ground, who was busy collecting the cards scattered all around him, and waved her hand.

"Well, it's been a pleasure as always, Ish. I hope you'll get out soon, too... Just transfer the credits when you get the chance, no hurry."

Miranda's eyes narrowed, but she smartly decided against asking why Ish had landed in this cell. He deserved it, no doubt...

Bailey opened the door and Shepard stepped next to Miranda who quickly evaded her outstretched arms. "Shower. First," she stated, rolling her eyes at the whistles and cheers from inmates all around them, shooting an angry glare as she noticed Shepard's grin.

This wasn't over just yet...

* * *

"I told you, they have speed limits here..." Miranda started their skycar's engine and took off.

Shepard leaned back in her seat and sighed. "I know..."

That answer didn't satisfy Miranda in the slightest. She kept her eyes on the traffic but shook her head. "Driving a skycar, drunk... What were you thinking?"

"Nothing," mumbled the woman next to her.

"And starting a fight with an officer when he pulls you aside..." Miranda went on, still shaking her head in disbelief.

"I saved the whole damn galaxy," Shepard pouted. "They should cut me some slack every now and then..."

"Shepard, you almost crashed into the roof garden of a retirement home while they were having their annual cricket tournament!"

Shepard groaned and threw her hands up. "Yes, I know, all right?"

"So, are you going to act like a grown-up now or do I have to search for another woman to carry our child?"

"That's easy for you to say. You're not forced to stop drinking for nine months while your body bloats and turns you into a whiny, emotional pulp of... pain..."

Miranda sighed. "There aren't even words to express my compassion..." she stated dryly. And with a mischievous smile, she added, "And it pains me to no end having to see you go through all the trouble of a normal, and with Dr. Chakwas' help professionally supervised, pregnancy just to have a daughter I'm sure you've already secretly come up with a name for..."

"I'm so relieved you understand... Also, I was thinking about calling her 'Normandy'..."

"Absolutely not!"

. . .

"That sounds more like her..." Oriana laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "So she wanted to celebrate her last days of freedom..." she mused and Miranda nodded, sighing heavily.

"Something like that, I suppose, yes."

"But there was no way out for her, was there?"

"Not a chance."

* * *

_A/N: So that's it for now, there are more chapters in preparation, but I guess these should do...  
_

_I hope it wasn't too confusing with the little break in the middle of the story... If it was, just let me know and I'll change it in future chapters...  
_

_Anyway, I hope you liked it and let me know if you're missing anything/anyone...  
_


	7. Chapter 7

**"I settle for nothing but the best..."**

**.**

"I can't imagine Shepard being pregnant..."

Oriana leaned back on the couch, lifting a still drowsy Emily in her arms, while she thought about the strong and slim woman she'd met only a few times in her life so far. She admittedly didn't know much about Shepard, but the woman she'd first seen on Illium when Miranda had approached her – even though her sister hadn't mentioned her, Oriana had already known then that the red-haired woman waiting patiently at a distance would have (or already had) an influence on her sister one way or another – and later on _Sanctuary_ didn't strike her as the type of woman to slow down and take the time to carry a child for nine months... But then again, Miranda could be very persistent and if the glances Oriana had noticed during every single one of her visits were any indication, there were very few things Shepard wouldn't do for the other woman...

Miranda's sigh jolted Oriana out of her musing and she turned her head towards her sister in anticipation.

"Oh, trust me... it wasn't easy..."

. . .

"Dr. Chakwas just called. Your test results look promising."

"Hooray," Shepard murmured, poutingly rubbing her arm without taking her eyes off the large screen in front of her. Even though she respected Karin Chakwas' work, Shepard had hoped the procedure would involve less needles... But apparently, carrying Miranda Lawson's child meant constant surveillance and monitoring as well as regular, preventive injections to ensure the child's favorable development. Shepard sighed inwardly. She should have known...

As it turned out, her father's detailed documentation Miranda had found had helped a great deal – at least one thing that bastard had been good for... With his research, her brilliant mind and Dr. Chakwas' expertise, they had been able to combine the genetic material of both her and Shepard quite easily, though decided against altering the child's DNA too much. Their daughter should be allowed to develop as naturally as possible instead of being the tool her father had Miranda intended to be, but seeing Miranda's gleaming eyes at all the possibilities of influencing her daughter's outcome, she seemed to have had a hard time reminding herself not to interfere too much during the early stages of the process...

Since Shepard provided the already healthy body, the following procedure was immensely shortened... Dr. Chakwas still promised to work on finding ways to help Miranda's condition (though shooting a glance at the doctor's liquor stash during her visits made her decide not to hold her breath on that one...), but for now, all eyes were on Shepard and her steadily growing belly...

It had taken some time for the former commander to get accustomed to that thought and her changing body, but Miranda's gleaming eyes whenever she'd shot her a sideglance had been more than enough motivation for her.

She gently stroked her belly absent-mindedly, wondering how the life inside of it would turn out to be, a smile tugging at her lips at all the possibilities...

Sometimes it still irritated her that Miranda – being the head of 'Project Lazarus' – seemed to know more about her body than Shepard herself. A knowledge she now generously shared with Dr. Chakwas... At first, Shepard hadn't liked the thought at all that those two talked about possible – and from the sound of it not entirely painless – procedures without her, but as much as Shepard would have loved to be a part of the process in creating their daughter, she didn't understand a word that was spoken once Miranda and Dr. Chakwas were hunched over their datapads, discussing various ideas. And so she'd settled for sitting in one of Karin's comfortable office chairs whenever they'd visited the doctor, silently waiting for them to finish. Besides, Shepard had pretty soon – and delightedly – noticed that Miranda still tended to lean against desks or chairs while deep in thought, oblivious to the former commander's eyes glued to her backside...

Trying to hide her grin as she heard Miranda approach, Shepard rubbed her arm once more to show just how much it still hurt from the last injection a few days prior. "Remind me never to trust a doctor again after the words 'this is gonna sting a bit'," she grumbled, her eyes never leaving the screen showing a crying turian banging against a wall right this moment. Her attention immediately back to the show she was watching, she swallowed, biting her lower lip at the scene. _Oh, poor Torek..._

Miranda sat down on the couch next to Shepard and, without a word, turned off the screen, silencing Shepard's protest with a raised hand. Why the former commander had started watching that awful turian soap opera every day now was beyond her. _Must be the hormones..._

She scrolled through a datapad and then fixed her eyes on the woman sitting in front of her.

Shepard swallowed. She knew that expression. And she didn't like it... It reminded her of the time when she'd simply been Miranda's project while she'd still worked for Cerberus, which she now seemed to have become once again. Knowing how much Miranda had changed since then, it sent a cold chill down Shepard's spine to once more feel like being dissected by those eyes...

"How are you feeling?" Miranda started in her old, almost forgotten professional tone. "Have you been feeling anything unusual? Any changes?"

Shepard took a deep breath and reminded herself that the woman inspecting her with a now clinical expression was the same woman who'd been smiling and joking only a couple of days ago... Just like Miranda probably had to remind herself that the woman sitting on the couch next to her in leisurewear that was way too loose – even in her current state – had once been the celebrated and at the same time feared dauntless savior of the galaxy...

The thought caused a mischievous grin to spread across Shepard's face as her eyes settled on Miranda. "Hm..." She placed a finger on her chin, tapping it lightly as if in tought. "Now that you mention it..."

Miranda's eyebrows rose in fear, causing Shepard's grin to widen some more.

"I'm a bit hungry..."

Miranda exhaled in relief and sank back on the couch. "Then go and get something to eat," she stated matter-of-factly, brushing her fingers over her forehead in exertion.

Shepard gave a mocking sigh and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes. "Ah, I feel so dizzy all of a sudden..." Shaking her head, she added, "I'm afraid I can't move..." After a second, she turned her head and peered through lowered eyelids. As Miranda's eyes simply narrowed, Shepard groaned and turned her head to the other side for more effect.

"Ugh!" Miranda rolled her eyes but got up from the couch nevertheless and entered their kitchen.

Shepard grinned as she heard her rummage through their fridge. Satisfied, she turned the terminal back on to watch the rest of her soap opera in peace.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Miranda sat back on the couch and shoved a plate filled with steaming pasta towards her.

"You're a dear!" Shepard exclaimed happily and placed a quick kiss on her lips before she started shoveling the pasta into her mouth.

"You know..." Miranda mused while she watched the former commander eat, "I think we should start preparing her room..."

Shepard groaned, her shoulders slouching visibly. "Shopping?"

"Unless you know of some other way to get a hold on everything we need to prepare our soon to be expected daughter's room, yes," Miranda stated, not the slightest bit impressed by Shepard's less than pleased expression.

"Isn't that what a baby shower's for?"

"You didn't want one of those either..."

Shepard gave a short laugh. "Right. No way in hell am I going to wear a stupid hat and play stupid games. Jack wouldn't have even shown up and a party's not a real party without Jack..."

Ignoring Shepard's remark – and forcing the images from their last "party" with Jack out of her mind – Miranda propped her chin in the palm of her hand and leaned against the couch's backrest. "So?"

Shepard groaned again, rubbing her swollen belly. An idea seemed to light up her face as she turned back to Miranda, smiling mischievously. "I just realized how terribly dizzy I still feel... You wouldn't want the mother of your child to collapse in the middle of a shop, now would you?"

Miranda's lips thinned. "Fine," she hissed, her eyes narrowing as she got up from the couch. "Let's just stay at home like all the previous eight months... I'll just..." Her eyes angrily scanned the room in search for something to do – preferably clean, since she'd found that to be a great way to relieve pent up aggression... Her eyes fell on the large fish tank and her eyes narrowed, having found a new target.

"What's with these fish anyway? I never see you feed them..." Miranda's hand traced the fake aquarium's frame absent-mindedly.

"They don't need food!" Shepard exclaimed, putting the plate aside as she saw Miranda continue to inspect the hologram, her face coming dangerously close to its surface...

Miranda paused and turned back to Shepard who'd jumped off the couch and was approaching her quickly. "Suddenly not feeling dizzy anymore?" she asked, her eyebrow raised before she turned back to the hologram.

Shepard waved her hand dismissively and tried to pull her lover away. "No, I don't... strange, isn't it? Hormones..." She gave a short, nervous laugh, which immediately stopped as Miranda's finger came dangerously close to the hidden mechanism. Taking a deep breath, Shepard started another last, desperate attempt to distract her, "I mean they _need_ food, of course, because they're _real_ fish, but there's this thing... on the side..." She winced as she heard the familiar _click!_ and the glass slid aside, revealing what was hidden behind it.

Miranda froze.

Shepard held her breath.

There was silence for a second that was all too soon over when Miranda's head whipped around, her eyes locking on Shepard's. "A hidden weapon stash?" Her expression showed that she was trying her hardest to keep the anger from her voice. "You have weapons hidden away in _our _house? Where soon enough _our_ child will live with us? And you kept this from me?"

Shepard started to scratch the nape of her neck while evading Miranda's eyes. "Well... yes. Because I knew how you'd react."

"Then why do it in the first place?"

"Because I can't just forget about my past and live without a weapon around. I need to be able to protect my family, now more than ever."

"A crammed weapon stash hardly counts as just _a_ weapon. And what if our daughter found them while playing alone in here?"

"Heh, it took _you_ over a year to find the hidden mechanism, I wouldn't exactly call that unsafe..."

_She's pregnant, she's pregnant, she's pregnant... _Inhaling sharply, Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment before she nodded in defiance. "Fine. I won't be able to talk you out of it anyway." Her eyes narrowed as they settled on Shepard. "But they are _your_ responsibility and I swear, if anything happens to our daughter-"

"I'll teach her how to use them as soon as she's old enough. Promise."

"That's..." Miranda shook her head in disbelief. "That's _not_ what I wanted to hear..."

"But it _is_ an option," Shepard offered, smiling warmly at her.

Miranda eyed her for another second before she sighed one last time. "You're coming with me. We're going shopping," she stated in her coldest voice that didn't leave room for any protest. And considering the effort it had taken for Miranda to agree on the weapon stash, Shepard deemed it only fair to cooperate as well... at least for a while...

* * *

"Welcome!"

A woman in her mid-forties quickly approached the pair that had just entered her store, smiling widely at them.

Miranda could already feel Shepard's arm tense underneath her hand and she patted it lightly. "Behave," she hissed before she turned to the woman and gave her her most charming fake smile.

"Oh, I see we've got a baby on the way here..." The woman cooed. "Won't be that much longer, am I right?"

Shepard tried to take a step back from the woman's outstretched arm but Miranda's hand kept her in place with an iron grip. The former commander winced as Miranda tightened her grip even more and she finally forced a smile and nodded. "Yes, not that much longer..."

The woman nodded and – to Shepard's great horror – started rubbing her belly. "Well, will it be a little prince or a little princess, then?"

Shepard snorted but quickly recovered as she felt Miranda's heel digging into her foot. She cleared her throat and answered, in feigned seriousness, "A girl."

"Terrific!" The woman clapped her hands before she rubbed over Shepard's belly once more, forcing the former commander to inhale sharply with restrained anger. "A little princess..."

Following the hands' movement with her eyes, Shepard's jaw tightened until she couldn't stand the torture any longer and freed herself from Miranda's grasp, roughly shoving past the saleswoman. "It's definitely _not_ going to be a little princess, lady! It's gonna be a girl and I'll be damned if my daughter's going to wear just the slightest hint of pink!"

The saleswoman's shocked expression quickly vanished again as she regained her composure and it gave way to her previous smile as she turned to Miranda, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "Hormones. Trust me, I know..."

Miranda lightly patted the hand the saleswoman had placed on her arm. "Oh believe me, it's not the hormones. She's always like that..." she answered while her amused eyes followed Shepard who made her way through the shelves filled with baby equipment on her own.

"Where's the section with the not-heart-covered baby clothes?"

. . .

Oriana chuckled. "How long were you in that store?" She looked up at her sister from her lowered position on the couch. During her story, she'd sunk deeper into the couch and was now partially lying on it, her bent knees that touched the coffee table in front of the couch preventing her from slipping off the couch's edge entirely. Emily – who had protested when Oriana had tried to place her back on the blanket between herself and Miranda – was now lying flat on Oriana's stomach, looking back and forth between her aunt and mother with curious eyes.

Miranda shrugged, answering, "About two hours." And noticing her sister's wide eyes, she added, "They would have kicked us out long before that if we hadn't bought half the store... Shepard didn't exactly act... appropriate..."

"I bet that's putting it mildly..."

"I had to use my biotics to get her away from a couple she'd started an argument with about the long-term effects unrealistic animal drawings on baby blankets can have on the child's psyche..."

Laughing, Oriana pulled Emily closer to her face, smiling widely as she cooed, "Did you hear to what length your mommies went to make you a nice room?"

The baby gurgled happily and Oriana sat her back on her stomach, securing the now sitting baby with her hands on either side to keep her upright.

Miranda sank back on the couch, taking on the same – admittedly uncomfortable – position her sister was in and ran a hand through her hair.

"That's only half of the story..."


	8. Chapter 8

**"She's got her issues..."**

**.**

"That's only half of the story..."

Oriana's eyes lit up.

Miranda winced, squeezing her eyes shut at the memory before she continued, "Buying all the equipment was the easy part, setting up the room was the hard part..."

. . .

"Reinforcements are here to drag your sorry asses out of this mess!"

Miranda rolled her eyes at the loud voice coming from the other side of the door. "Did you _have_ to invite her?" she asked as Shepard sped past her and towards the door – surprisingly fast for a pregnant woman – with Cal at her heels. "She does understand the concept of a door bell, I hope. And that loud and inappropriate yelling is utterly unnecessary to make oneself known..." she called after the red-haired woman but Shepard simply waved her hand dismissively while she activated the door controls with the other, impatiently waiting for it to open and reveal...

"Jack!"

"Shepard! Damn, you look like shit. A couple years without military training and you swell up like a muffin. What's the cheerleader been feeding you?"

Shepard gave a short laugh and stepped aside to let the tattooed woman enter. "It's good to see you too, Jack. Nice new tattoos by the way... Did you let your students draw them on you or did you do it yourself while you were drunk?"

Jack playfully punched Shepard's shoulder. "That's art, dumbass! Doesn't need to be pretty." A mischievous grin spread across her face. "But speaking of pretty..."

Miranda groaned and turned on her heels, raising a warning hand as she fled into the kitchen. "Don't even go there. You two can go on ahead, I'll just wait for the more productive help to arrive," she added over her shoulder.

Jack and Shepard exchanged a quick look and simultaneously shrugged their shoulders.

"I'll show you the room," Shepard announced, heading for the stairs. "The stuff's in the skyvan outside, but we'll have to wait for more people to arrive that can help us carry it up there. Where's Kelly, by the way?"

Jack shrugged as she followed the former commander. "Hell if I know. Probably still cuffed to the bed..." They both burst out into laughter before she added in a more serious tone, "That's actually possible considering how wasted I was last night. Surprised I got out of bed this morning. Just picked up my clothes and left without checking for her 'cause I had to hurry to get here in time... Heh, I bet she can't even reach her omni-tool that way... Oh well..."

They headed up the remaining steps of the stairs and Jack lightly poked Shepard in the side while they made their way down the hallway. "Damn shame you're not allowed to drink," she smiled. "We'd have a hell of a party 'till the rest arrives..."

Shepard sighed. "Tell me about it... Hey, you still carry that pocket tattoo-machine around with you? I feel like finishing the tattoo on your leg I started on the Normandy..."

"You bet, but don't think I won't kick your pregnant ass if you fuck up the burning wings..."

"Pfffft, burning wings are _so_ overrated. I'd still go for the butterflies..."

"Don't. You. Dare!"

* * *

"Damn, what's that ugly-ass color even called? 'Krogan vomit'?"

Liara's eyebrow rose as she shot Miranda a look over the brim of her tea cup. "How long has she been here already?"

Miranda shook her head, sighing heavily. "All morning..."

Nodding in sympathy, Liara took another sip from her tea before she set the cup down on the kitchen counter, musing, "I hope some of the others will arrive soon..." Her head shot up and she turned on her barstool towards Miranda. "That reminds me, Tali and Garrus won't make it, but I've got Tali's present. It's still in my shuttle outside." Her brows furrowed. "I also don't think Javik will come. I've left him a message but he hasn't shown up to our last book signings either. I think he's not handling the fame very well... poor creature..."

They both turned their heads when the front door opened and Samantha carefully entered the house, spotting the two women sitting in the kitchen and waving her hand shyly as she approached them.

"I hope I'm not too late." The Comm Specialist placed her handbag on the kitchen counter and heavily fell on an empty barstool next to Miranda, sighing. "It took me hours to find a pilot who was willing to drop me off here." She shot the two women an apologetic smile, both of them returning her smile warmly.

Even though Miranda had rarely had contact to the Normandy's former Comm Specialist and Liara had only known her for a short time, the dark haired woman's calmness was a welcome contrast to the otherwise rather loud Normandy crew that had gathered over all those years under Shepard's command.

"You're welcome to fly back with me, if you like," Liara offered while Miranda poured the newcomer a cup of tea, which Samantha took with a thankful nod. "Feron is waiting with a ship, he'll pick us up as soon as we're done and then we can fly you wherever you want."

Samantha gave a sigh of relief and nodded after taking a sip from the steaming coffee. "That would be marvellous. This planet doesn't seem to have a lot of transport shuttles, it's pretty deserted... No offense, it's a gorgeous planet," she quickly added, placing an apologetic hand on Miranda's arm.

The former Cerberus operative smiled. "None taken. And that's exactly why we chose it..."

"Well..." Samantha let her eyes wander around the room with only the three of them. "I doubt there will be any more people arriving. I've talked to James and Cortez on my way here. They send their regards but they won't make it, they have their hands full with their adopted turian baby right now..."

Liara nodded in thought. "I guess that leaves only us. But four biotics doesn't sound that bad actually..."

"Three biotics. Shepard's not allowed to exert herself," Miranda chimed in.

Smiling, Liara corrected, "Two biotics, one pregnant woman, one maniac..."

"...And a Comm Specialist who happens to be _extremely_ good at interior decorating and keeping an eye on pregnant women who aren't allowed to exert themselves," Samantha added with a wink and the three of them got up, nodding at each other.

"Sounds manageable..."

* * *

"Miri, look what Jack bought for us!"

Shepard's face appeared in the window and she leaned forward, proudly waving a black and white romper in her hands. Jack's face appeared next to her and she yelled at the people gathered on the house's front yard, "A baby version of the original 'Miranda Lawson' jumpsuit! Tailor-made... It's even got tiny rubber heels and padded knees to crawl around."

Shepard squealed in delight as Jack pointed at said attachments.

. . .

Oriana burst out laughing. "Oh my god, really?" Her sister's disapproving look only elicited another fit of laughter. "I _have_ to see it!" she declared.

Miranda's eyes narrowed. "No you don't. And I wasn't done with my story yet. _You_ were the one pestering me about it in the first place, remember?"

"And I want to hear the rest of the story, I promise, but I just _have_ to see that jumpsuit first!" Oriana snickered, trying her hardest to keep Emily in place. The baby however seemed to enjoy the shaking of her aunt's stomach and squealed happily, looking at Miranda with gleaming eyes.

Not able to resist her daughter's charm – even though the baby was unaware of the position it had put its mother in – Miranda rolled her eyes and got up from the couch, walking up the stairs grumblingly. After a few seconds of loud rummaging through their bedroom, she emerged again and returned to the living room, tossing a piece of baby clothing at her sister – careful not to hit Emily who recognized the garment immediately, clapping her hands in excitement.

"There. Happy now?"

Oriana bit her lower lip as she inspected the jumpsuit, running her thumb over its surface and sighing in contentment.

"It's so..."

. . .

"...soft!" Shepard beamed, running her hand carefully over the tiny jumpsuit. "She'll love it!"

Miranda's eyes narrowed, still looking up at the open window above them. "Could we get on with it then? We still have a skyvan filled with boxes... And Traynor, please get her away from the window, that fool will manage to fall if she leans out any further."

"On it," came Samantha's reply from inside the room, not in the slightest insulted by Miranda's tone. Shortly after, the Comm Specialist appeared next to Shepard and placed a hand on her former commander's shoulder. "Why don't we go back inside and decide where to place all the furniture _before_ the room is filled with unmarked and similar looking boxes?"

Satisfied, Miranda turned to the van Liara had meanwhile opened and, without taking a step towards it, she pulled a heavy box out of it with her biotics and lifted it up towards the open – and luckily large enough – window, a mischievous smirk on her lips as the box hit Jack's head with an almost unnoticeable flick of her right hand.

"Ow! What the hell, cheerleader?"

Miranda grinned up at the window. "Ooops, my bad."

Growling, Jack rubbed her aching head. "I swear, if you weren't under Shepard's protection and she a hormonal mess right now..."

"I'd like to see you try," the former Cerberus operative mumbled, nodding towards Liara before they lifted a larger box together, Jack navigating it from above without any further complaint – although if that was because of Shepard's presence behind her or Liara's warning glare when the box seemingly coincidental hovered over Miranda's head for a second was hard to tell...

* * *

"All done," Shepard declared and leaned back, proudly inspecting the cradle she'd just put together with Samantha's help. She turned her head towards the other end of the room. "What about you, Jack?"

"Screw you!" came the familiarly cheerful reply and everyone in the room turned their heads toward the tattooed woman sitting in a dark corner of the room, hunched over the strewn parts of an unfinished playpen.

Miranda turned away from the wardrobe she and Liara had just filled with baby clothes and placed her hands on her hips, letting her eyes wander over the now fully furnished and decorated room. "Well, as soon as Jack has managed to put together the playpen she's spent the last hour staring at, we're done."

"Screw you too! The bars are in rainbow colors! My eyes have to get used to all this happy shit first..."

Deciding to ignore Jack's words, Miranda turned to the rest of the small group gathered around the cradle in the middle of the room. Hanging right above it was Tali's present, a mobile with changing holographic images showing pictures of every member of Shepard's former crews. It could be controlled through an omni-tool program to switch music on and off as well as change the lightning, which otherwise adjusted its color automatically, depending on the time of day. Along with the mobile came a small drone monitoring the baby's every move, automatically informing the programmed omni-tools about any signs of sickness or ailment – a clear sign that the gift came from a quarian who still wasn't used to not being forced anymore to wear an enviro suit all the time...

Miranda silently stepped behind Shepard and wrapped her arms around the other's waist as far as her belly allowed, resting her head on Shepard's shoulder while they watched the changing holograms. Just like the rest of them, she smiled when a picture of Tali and Garrus standing in front of their new house on Rannoch appeared, their expressions turning sad when the mobile lightly turned and a picture of an obviously singing Mordin caught everyone's attention. The hologram changed again and was now showing a picture of Shepard struggling to find a comfortable position next to Samara on the cold, hard floor of the Observation Deck – and judging by her pained expression failing miserably...

Miranda leaned back and lightly patted Shepard's side, announcing, "I think we've all earned a break."

Movement quickly returned to the small group and Liara and Samantha followed Miranda out of the room to get something to eat and – since Shepard offered to stay and help Jack – a well deserved glass of champagne after their long day of work without having to deal with a wide-eyed Shepard staring longingly at their glasses-

. . .

"What are you doing?"

Miranda stopped her narration and turned to her sister. Noticing Oriana's concentrated expression, her eyebrow rose when she realized what her sister had in mind. "You can't be serious! You're not actually considering dressing her in that ridiculous jumpsuit, are you?"

"What?" Oriana shrugged. "I think it's cute... _and_ fluffy."

Emily beamed at her mother from Oriana's lap, waiting patiently while the younger Lawson sister carefully pulled the small jumpsuit's zipper up.

"There, done," Oriana announced and grinned at her sister when Emily started clapping her hands in agreement. "See? She likes it too..."

"Unbelievable..."


	9. Chapter 9

**"It's been a long time coming..."**

**.**

"What happened next?"

"Hm?" Miranda tore her eyes away from Emily's irritating jumpsuit and looked at her sister.

"What happened next?" Oriana repeated her question. "You told me about Emily's origin, Shepard's pregnancy... what came next?"

"You mean her birth?"

Oriana tilted her head in thought. "That depends... Is it worth telling?"

Miranda shrugged her shoulders. "Which story involving Shepard isn't?"

. . .

"What do you think you're doing?"

Shepard raised her head, but winced a second later, clutching her stomach as she heavily leaned on their skycar. "Miri, I love you, I really do, but if you don't get into the skycar right now..." she hissed through clenched teeth.

Miranda stepped next to her, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're not driving! Not in your state..." She pointedly looked at Shepard's belly.

Shepard groaned, as another contraction hit her full force. "I have driven a Mako through Noveria's snow storms, I have chased an asari Spectre in a taxi through Illium's night traffic and I've steered a skycar while a crazy assassin was stomping over its roof, I think I'm able to drive now, so please get in the car. I won't argue with you!"

* * *

Five minutes later, Shepard was sitting in the passenger seat of their skycar, sulking and grinding her teeth while shooting sideglances at the woman in the driver seat every couple of seconds.

Miranda sighed in annoyance. "What?"

"Could you go a little faster?"

Miranda sternly shook her head. "Speed limits, remember? We'll get there soon, just... try to relax... And breathe..."

Shepard whined and turned her head away. "Can I at least listen to some music?"

"No! That awful music only distracts me!"

Another contraction made Shepard bury her head in her hands. "Ow, for god's sake! When does it stop?"

Miranda's eyebrow rose. "You got spaced, but having a baby makes you scream and whimper?"

Shepard forced a laugh through clenched teeth. "Well, it was kinda hard to scream with all the air being sucked out of my helmet back then..." Her eyes caught sight of something and she straightened in her seat, pointing to her right. "There! Go through there, it's a short-cut!"

"A constructon site?" Miranda snorted. "Definitely not!"

* * *

Miranda's eyes followed the nurse as she carried their newborn daughter away to bath and clothe her. Miranda had followed her out of the room, anxious to leave the baby out of sight as soon as she'd first set her eyes on her – and to give her hands time to heal the marks Shepard's fingernails had left... She absent-mindedly brushed her fingers over the red streams on one of her hands and winced. _God, that woman has a grip..._

She slightly turned her head back to the room she'd just left. If one would have only been able to judge by the sounds coming from it only minutes ago, they'd have suspected a slaughter taking place behind the closed door... Miranda testingly moved her jaw. Yes, the ringing in her ears was still there...

The nurse still wasn't back with Emily and Miranda slowly started feeling a bit out of place standing in an empty hallway, so she turned to her right and entered the waiting room, but immediately regretted her decision...

Jacob's head rose from the datapad on interior decoration he'd been reading and his eyes widened. "Miranda?"

"Jacob..." Miranda cleared her throat, trying to sound as casual as possible while still keeping an eye on the hallway in case the nurse came by again – silently hoping she'd hurry up... "What a surprise. Didn't expect you here..."

Jacob put the datapad down and nodded, smiling widely. "Yeah... Brynn and the baby are sleeping right now. Thought I'd give them some time to rest..."

Miranda's eyebrow rose. "The baby?" _How many of those do they have by now?_

Sparing Miranda the effort of trying to remember how many messages filled with baby pictures and a grinning Jacob and Brynn they'd received so far, Jacob nodded, still smiling proudly. "Yeah, it's our fourth now..."

Miranda pursed her lips as she forced her eyebrow to lower, nodding to hide the effort. "Wow... four, huh?"

Again, Jacob nodded by way of an answer, but to be fair, Miranda's sentence didn't exactly leave him much choice in that matter... She forced a smile, unsure what to do next... Sure, she and Jacob had been close once, but that was years ago and the closeness hadn't exactly been on an... emotional level... So what was one to do in a situation like this anyway? Should she pat him on the shoulder?

She pursed her lips once more before adding, "Impressive..."

Jacob waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, it's just the most beautiful feeling in the world. Being part of something so..." He was lost for words, but for once he didn't need to finish his sentence for Miranda's heart to skip a beat at the memory of her daughter. She knew exactly what he meant and her eyes lit up at the thought.

The effect wasn't lost on Jacob and his smile widened even more. "You're already up and running again, I see... Heh, guess having the perfect genes pays off once more..."

Miranda took a step back and her eyes widened as she realized what he'd implied. "Oh, I'm not..." She nervously cleared her throat while raising her arms, gesturing through the air helplessly. "I mean, I wasn't the one... giving birth..."

Jacob's jaw dropped. "Shepard?"

Miranda shrugged, smiling shyly. Jacob gave a short laugh and shook his head, his smile back in place again as he rubbed his chin. "Well, she certainly never striked me as the... motherly type..."

Miranda's cheeks darkened as she evaded Jacob's eyes. "Well, she..." She involuntarily rubbed her arm nervously. "She can be... very caring..." she offered, cursing herself for feeling the need to defend Shepard and their decision in the first place...

"Sure, sure. I didn't mean to..." Jacob shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "You know... I just thought..." He shook his head and got up from his chair, approaching her. "Nevermind. Congratulations!" And before Miranda could read his expression to know what he was up to, he'd already wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. With her movements suddenly limited, Miranda simply settled for a few pats on Jacob's broad shoulders as a response.

Right before she was forced to break the hug with her biotics, Jacob released her and took a few steps back, still smiling – and making Miranda silently wonder if she herself looked like that right now, although she doubted it... She would never grin like a lunatic... would she?

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Yes." Her smile was finally back in place, an honest one this time. "Yes, it does."

The following silence was all too soon broken by a hoarse scream from next door.

"Miranda!"

_Ugh! _The called woman rolled her eyes and, after nodding her goodbyes to Jacob, turned on her heels, storming back into the room she had just left a few minutes prior. _Somebody please give her a sedative..._

The door to Shepard's room hissed open and as soon as the commander spotted the raven-haired woman, she sank back into her pillow, sighing in relief as she ran a hand through her damp hair.

"Damn it, that hurt!" Shepard cursed, closing her eyes as she rested her head back on the pillow. She gave another deep sigh as she blindly reached out with her hand, fumbling through the air until Miranda closed her own hand around it, sitting down on the bed next to Shepard.

Her former XO grinned mischievously as she lightly patted Shepard's hand. "Ready for round two?"

Shepard snorted and shook her head vehemently. "Don't even think about it! One's definitely enough! If you want any more, we're going to adopt!" the former commander stated, resting her head in Miranda's lap. "Why couldn't we have a tube-baby like you were?" she whimpered.

"Because I couldn't think of anything more fun than having your bloody pregnant ass around me for the last nine months..." Miranda stated dryly, half-heartedly slapping Shepard's head for her insensitive remark beforehand.

Shepard rubbed the back of her head. "Ow, I'm the mother of your child, you could be a little more grateful." Pouting her lips mockingly, she rubbed her belly. "My body's still recovering..."

"And you could stop being such an ass-" The door to the room hissed open. "-tonishingly sensitive and caring person," she finished her sentence as she smilingly turned around to face the nurse with the small bundle in her hand.

"_Ass_tonishingly sensitive and caring, huh?" Shepard chuckled as she straightened up again, resting against the bed's pillow.

"There we are," the nurse cooed and stopped in front of the bed, looking back and forth between the two women until Shepard nodded towards Miranda.

"Go on, I've carried her long enough..."

Miranda shot her a disapproving glare before she turned to the smiling nurse who handed her the baby.

"I'll come and check on you later," the nurse announced before she turned and left the room.

At a loss for words, Miranda simply looked down at the small baby sleeping peacefully in her arms. She remained like this for a couple of seconds before she carefully placed Emily back in Shepard's arms and lay down on the bed next to her, propping her chin in the palm of her hand while she placed her free hand protectively around the small bundle between them, brushing a few strands of soft, dark hair with her thumb.

Someone behind them cleared their throat and as they both raised their heads, Kasumi deactivated her tactical cloak, smilingly waving at the couple on the bed.

"God, you gotta stop doing that!" Shepard shook her head and shot a quick glance at the still closed door. "How did you get in here anyway?"

The master thief shrugged. "Followed the nurse," she said matter-of-faclty before she turned and took a small picture off the wall behind her, placing it in her bag. With both Shepard's and Miranda's disbelieving eyes following her, Kasumi proceeded through the room, collecting various hospital equipment and placing it in her bag, whistling happily.

After a while, Shepard cleared her throat. "Erm, Kasumi? What are you doing exactly?"

The thief stopped next to the bed and placed a vase in her bag before she raised her hands, her eyes widening innocently. "What? It's not like they're gonna miss it..."

Shepard sighed, slightly shifting in her bed as she answered, "Well, let me know if you need me to get out of this bed in case you want to take that too."

"You'd do that?" Kasumi gave a mocking sigh before she gracefully jumped on the bed opposite to Miranda who shook her head.

"Don't encourage her!" the raven-haired woman chided before she turned to the smiling master thief. "You really should think about a change of carreer..." she told her sternly.

Shepard turned her head towards her. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Kasumi shrugged once more. "I wanted to be the first to see the baby of course!" She smiled, leaning forward to get a better look at the still sleeping Emily.

Miranda's eyebrow rose at Kasumi's statement. "And your presence has nothing to do with Jacob sitting next door, I take it?" she asked skeptically.

"Jacob's here? Well, what a coincidence..." Kasumi giggled bashfully. "I... I didn't even notice..."

"M-Hm..."

Now even Shepard had raised her eyebrow and the two of them eyed the squirming thief mercilessly.

"Did you talk to him? Did he mention me? Do you think he and Brynn are still an item?"

"With Brynn having just given birth to their fourth child? Hm, maybe..."

Kasumi's brows furrowed while she contemplated Miranda's words for a while before her eyes lit up again and she faced the couple.

"Do you think he would get jealous if he saw me with a child?" Her smile widend. "Could I borrow yours for a minute?"

"Absolutely not!" came the response from both Shepard and Miranda. And while Miranda shot Kasumi her most threatening glare – oh yes, she still had it in her – Shepard carefully tightened her hold on the baby in her arms.

Kasumi raised both hands and hopped off the bed. "Fine. Don't help me, that's fine by me... It's not like _I_'ve ever done anything for _you_..."

"Out!"

. . .

"That Kasumi sounds like quite the character..."

"As long as you keep her and Jacob in separate rooms, she's quite all right, actually... Just don't ever ask her where she gets her presents from... and don't put them on display in case the authorities storm your house..." Miranda gave a heavy sigh. "...And be prepared for her to rush into your house, unnanounced, and reclaim her gifts a few months later when it's safe again to sell them on the black market..."

"Wow..."

"Yes, that's Kasumi..." Miranda turned to her sister. "But enough of that. What do you want to do now? Watch another vid?"

She nodded towards the terminal where the end credits rolled. Oriana glanced over Emily's shoulder and pursed her lips. She hadn't even realized the movie had ended while she'd listened to Miranda's story. Smiling at Emily, she shook her head.

"Nope, I think we've been sitting around enough already, let's do something else. I was thinking of baking a 'Welcome home'-cake for Shepard."

Miranda's eyebrow rose. "I think a 'Hurray, she's still got all her limbs'-cake would be more appropriate..."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, always with the sarcasm..."

* * *

_A/N: Almost done with this one-shot collection now... thanks a lot for sticking around and all your responses.  
_

_Oh, and don't let these one-shots fool you: children are a lot of hard work, they scream, they're needy, they're moody, etc. I just haven't felt the need to portray that in my stories... :) Though it might be interesting to see Shep's reaction to a screaming "bundle of joy", right?_


	10. Chapter 10

**"I'm superior in many ways..."**

**.**

"Did you add the eggs already?"

"I..."

Oriana sighed. "Miri, are you sure you're cut out to be a housewife?"

Miranda's head shot up from the datapad showing the cake recipe she'd tried to make sense of for the last twenty minutes. "Pardon?"

Oriana pointedly looked at the undefinable glob on the table in front of her sister and Miranda's eyes narrowed. She didn't like having her competences questioned... "I'll have you know that I am, in fact, more than capable to keep house."

Oriana quickly charged at the table and got her niece to safety just as a cloud of flour threatened to cover the baby who was skeptically inspecting her mother's work, poking it with a tiny finger. Once Emily was safe in her arms, Oriana shook her head and stated, "Yes, but you can't bake."

Miranda braced her hands on the table and sighed heavily. "I know."

Oriana eyed her sister skeptically. "I thought you like to be precise..."

Miranda gave a sarcastic laugh. "This recipe is far from precise..." Noticing her sister's raised eyebrow, she motioned towards the datapad in front of her. "It says here to add a pinch of salt. What's a bloody pinch?"

"A pinch is a pinch," Oriana stated helpfully, shrugging her shoulders with a smile.

Miranda's narrowed eyes bore into her. "Why thank you. Why don't _you _add the bloody pinch of salt then?"

"No swearing around Emily," Oriana warned, mockingly covering the baby's ears, which Emily found very amusing as she squealed in delight and grabbed her aunt's hands with her own.

Miranda shook her head, giving another sarcastic laugh. "You should hear Shepard, most of the time she sounds like a drunken sailor..."

"Don't make me take your daughter away from you two..."

As soon as the flour had settled, Oriana approached her sister once more and handed her Emily. "Here, you take her and I'll take care of... that..." Her eyes narrowed as she inspected what her sister had managed to... 'produce' so far. She sighed and looked at the ingredients still standing on the table, untouched. A mischievous smile on her face, she set to work and without looking up, offered, "And while I work, you can finally tell me what's so special about Shepard..."

Miranda blinked in confusion. "I don't understand..."

Oriana rolled her eyes while she kneaded the dough in front of her. "Oh please, you've been avoiding that question the entire time. You told me about her incompetence and all the things about her that drive you insane, but you never told me why you're still sticking around in the end..."

"That's not true, I told you about our first date. That was... nice..."

The insecure tone in Miranda's voice made Oriana pause for a minute until she nodded. "True, that was nice. But I'm sure you've had dozens of other people taking you out on dates and giving you jewelry, so that can't be it..."

"She carried our daughter..." Miranda absent-mindeldy ran her hand through her daughter's soft hair, smiling down at her.

Trying to hide her smile at the display, Oriana turned back to the task at hand. "Yep, that proves a lot, but you could have found someone else to carry a child for you, you even could have adopted..." She reached for a baking pan. "From what I heard, you're not one to easily commit yourself to someone else... and stay..."

"Who told you that?"

"Jacob..."

_Figures..._ Miranda rolled her eyes in annoyance and ran a hand through her hair, unintentionally leaving a trail of white from the flour still clinging to her fingers.

"I was loyal to Cerberus for many years," she protested and Oriana shook her head, smiling.

"Cerberus doesn't keep you warm at night..." the younger Lawson sister singsonged.

Miranda huffed. "That's ridiculous. I don't need someone to keep me warm at night..." _Although I _have_ gotten used to it by now... Damn it!_

"Then what is it?" Oriana raised a hand, "And just in case it's something I _don't_ want to hear, keep it censored, please..."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "It's not... well, not _just_ that... I mean..."

"Hm?"

Biting her lower lip, Miranda remained silent until her sister turned away from the oven, having finished the cake in only a few minutes. Oriana raised her eyebrows expectantly but Miranda averted her eyes. They fell on Emily in her arms, the baby beaming up at her happily.

With a sigh, Oriana nodded. "Fine, I give up." She turned back to the table to clean it up as she heard a whisper.

"Her eyes."

"Hm?" She turned back around but her sister still evaded her eyes. Still, Miranda spoke, a bit louder this time.

"It's what fascinated me when all I had from her were pictures to help me rebuild her. And when she awoke, she still had those eyes... She has a way of looking at you that makes you feel like there's no one else in the room but you..." She smiled at Emily as she continued, "And she has these dimples in her cheeks when she smiles. Emily has the same ones..." As if she knew her mother was talking about her, Emily shot her a dimpled smile which caused Miranda's own smile to widen even more and she confidently went on, "Out of all the people I've met, she was one of the few seeing through my mask with ease. She was the one patient enough to wait for me until I was ready to open up and even after learning all these things about me, things I'm not easily willing to share, she still stayed... And she still looks at me with that expression... as if I'm the most interesting person in the galaxy, even with all my insecurities and doubts..." She sighed. "I feel safe with her. Comfortable... Plus she's strong and caring and loyal and _moslty_ reliable and-"

Miranda involuntarily stiffened as she felt arms wrap around her, but quickly relaxed when she heard Oriana's voice. "Aww, I knew you could do it! See? Wasn't that bad, was it?" Her sister smiled up at her but Miranda just huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Complacency doesn't suit you..."

Unimpressed by her sister's remark, Oriana turned to Emily still in Miranda's arm and winked at her. "You make sure to kick your mommy the next time she tries to hold back her feelings," she told the baby and Emily giggled, wiggling in her mother's arms.

Miranda turned her head back to her sister, a sudden fear gleaming in her eyes. "Don't tell her I said that!" she warned but before Oriana could reassure her that she would _never_ even dream about telling Shepard what she had just revealed, they heard the front door open and both turned to see Shepard enter.

After greeting the varren that immediately sped towards her, the former commander hastily approached the kitchen but slowed her pace as soon as she noticed the two sisters waiting for her there. She slightly turned her head, trying to hide her face from Miranda, but not even all those years of domestic bliss had managed to decrease the former Cerberus operative's watchfulness... She freed herself from Oriana and approached Shepard, turning her face to get a closer look at the deep cut right above her eyebrow. "What happened?"

Shepard turned away and started rummaging through the kitchen's cupboards. "We ran out of medi-gel," she murmured.

"You... what? How many units did you pack?"

Shepard opened another cupboard and gave a short laugh. "Obviously not enough..."

"That's not a proper answer." Miranda's eyes narrowed as she stepped behind Shepard who was kneeling in front of another open cupboard door. "You didn't just kill this one guy..." she concluded.

Shepard shrugged, shooting her an apologetical smile. "We _may_ have encountered some merc bands on our way home..." she admitted.

Miranda rolled her eyes and sighed, turning away. "Drawer to your left," she added and Shepard thankfully opened said drawer and found the medi-gel unit she'd been looking for.

"Ah, better," she announced as soon as the gel set to work, closing the wound immediately and thus stopping the blood flow. She took the offered towel from Oriana to clean her face and then smiled at all three of them. "I'll just go upstairs and change into new clothes." She closed her hand around the open medi-gel unit still in her hand and hastily approached the door. "I'll... just take that with me..."

Miranda groaned. "Where else are you hurt?" she demanded but Shepard just waved her hand dismissively.

"Ah, just some scratches here and there..."

"Of course..." Miranda shook her head and secured the wiggling baby in her arms. There was no way she'd let Shepard hold her with all that blood still on her clothes – and god knows how many wounds underneath them... "Will you be presentable for our party tomorrow?"

"Yeah, don't worry. It'll just take a minute." And smiling at Emily, Shepard added, "I'll be right back and then I'll put you to bed. Deal?"

Emily squealed in agreement and Shepard nodded, smiling in satisfaction. She suddenly paused in the doorway and turned back around, sniffing. "Is that a cake?" Squinting her eyes towards the oven, one of her eyebrows rose. "Huh, I didn't know you could bake..."

Miranda's narrowed eyes and her growl made the former commander immediately leave the kitchen and speed upstairs to check her wounds and get fresh clothes.

* * *

After a while – which was way too long to take care of 'just a few scratches here and there', as Miranda decided – Shepard had taken Emily out of Miranda's arm and had vanished again to put the baby to bed while Oriana tried her hardest to convince her sister to watch the sequel to the vid they'd watched before.

Just as Miranda rolled her eyes and nodded, hoping that would shut her sister up, Shepard sat down on the couch between the two sisters and while Oriana was occupied with the terminal to start the new vid, Miranda didn't waste any time to grab Shepard's fresh N7-shirt and pull it up. Her eyes immediately shot back to Shepard's.

"Just a scratch, huh?"

Shepard bit her lower lip as she gently freed her shirt from Miranda's grasp and pulled it over the long cut running from the right side of her ribcage to her left hip bone, now sealed by medi-gel. The former commander shrugged. "I don't even feel a thing..." she smiled.

"Well, in that case I'm sure you won't mind if I do this..." With a devilish smile, Miranda lifted her legs and placed them in Shepard's lap, the former commander immediately wincing at the contact. But Shepard quickly recovered and, after taking a deep breath, turned her head back to Miranda, forcing a smile.

"Not at all," she breathed through clenched teeth.

Miranda rolled her eyes and placed her feet back on the ground, gently slapping Shepard's shoulder – silently hoping she'd hit another 'scratch'. But as Shepard didn't react, Miranda swung her arm around Shepard's and laced their fingers as she leaned against the former commander's arm, her head resting on her shoulder.

"I'm glad you're back..." she murmured as quietly as possible.

She shot Oriana a warning look as her sister approached the couch and Oriana simply grinned, mouthing 'Awwww' before she sat back down on the couch just as the vid started.

* * *

"I hope I didn't emotionally drain her too much..." Oriana shot a worried glance at the pair of feet hanging from the edge of the couch, the entire sleeping figure of her sister momentarily obscured by the couch's back.

Shepard waved her hand dismissively. "Miranda? Nah, I think that's impossible..." She gave a short laugh before she leaned forward and hugged Oriana, whispering, "I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it."

The younger Lawson sister smiled. "Well, _I_ certainly did..." she declared as she turned towards the door, pausing again. "Take care of her," she ordered over her shoulder before she left the house and approached a waiting silhouette leaning against a skycar in front of the house.

Shepard raised her hand and Danner waved back before the two of them got in the skycar and sped into the night.

Whistling for Cal to get back inside and locking the door behind her, Shepard walked back to the couch and kneeled in front of it, contemplating Miranda's peaceful expression. "Tired?" she whispered, earning a groan from the raven-haired woman on the couch.

A smile spread across Shepard's face as she leaned forward. "Why, Ms. Lawson, did the youth tire you?"

A hand was weakly raised but didn't even reach the back of Shepard's head, instead settled for a soft slap on the former commander's arm. Unimpressed by that, Shepard reached under Miranda's body and lifted her up, her former XO's head rolling to the side to rest on her shoulder while she was being carried upstairs.

Niftu weakly raised his head as he saw the two figures enter the room, but as neither of them seemed to intend on bringing him food, he curled back into a ball and dozed off again.

Shepard gently laid Miranda down on the bed and, after taking off her pants and shirt, pulled the blanked out from under her former XO's sleeping form and covered her with it. She turned away and was about to leave the room when she felt a hand on her arm.

"I love you."

She paused and then slowly turned back around, smiling at the motionless figure under the blanket, but Miranda had already fallen asleep again.

"I love you too," she whispered before she left the room, heading downstairs to clean the mess the two sisters had left in the kitchen.

* * *

_A/N: With a special round of applause for "Guest" (whoever you are) for being right with their prediction back in July last year (wow, has it really been this long already?).  
_

_Next up: Shepard's back, let's get this party started! Who will appear? Who will embarass Miranda? Who will take a naked dive in the pool? (OK, that last one won't happen, sorry... :) Plus there's no pool, sadly...)_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: I could have probably written a follow-up chapter for this party and include some more guests, etc. but since there's only one more chapter to go in this story I kinda wanted to finally wrap it up... There'll be an author's note at the end of the next chapter which will tell you how I'm going to continue but for now... enjoy! :)  
_

_As always: thanks a lot for your reviews!_

* * *

**"I've never met anyone like you, Miranda."**

**.**

"Hey... there's my little girl..." Shepard smiled at the baby happily wiggling in Miranda's arm.

Her former XO huffed and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face after she'd handed the baby over to Shepard. "Well, one of us had to bath her before your guests arrive and since _you_ decided to sleep in today..."

"_Our_ guests," Shepard corrected her while she secured her daughter in her arms, gently running a hand through the baby's (thanks to Miranda freshly shampooed) hair. "They like you too, you know..."

Miranda gave a short laugh, causing Emily to imitate her mother's sound immediately. Shepard's eyebrows rose in delight. "Aww, did you hear that? Soon she'll be able to raise an eyebrow and retort sarcastically just like her mommy..."

Miranda's eyes narrowed in warning, which only earned her Shepard's index finger, pointing at her in excitement. "See? I bet she'll learn that next!" the redhead exclaimed before hurrying down the stairs, a squealing Emily in her arms, before Miranda could find something to throw at her – or order Niftu to hide her socks again, that little pest!

* * *

"Why couldn't you wear the tie I bought you last month? It looks so good on you..."

Jack waved Kelly's hand off as the former yeoman tried to smooth down her lover's loose, white shirt, which she wore under her usual leather jacket. Under the circumstances (namely, a baby being present today) the former convict had decided to wear a bit more clothing than she was normally used to... There would still be time to act as a bad influence on Shepard's child later...

A smile crossed her face while she thought about all the words she would teach the tiny Shepard offspring, but the smile immediately vanished again when Kelly started pulling at Jack's ponytail...

"You know," the former yeoman's brows furrowed, "I really think you should let your hair down more often..." Delighted by her own joke, a short giggle escaped the redhead while she activated the door's bell in front of them.

Jack growled dangerously and did her best to evade Kelly's once more persistent hands, but just as she was about to decide whether to stash the former yeoman's body behind the impressive (though still ugly as hell) alien statue prominently standing in the middle of Shepard's front yard or if she could manage to squeeze it into a dark corner in Garrus and Tali's (unlocked – she'd checked it...) shuttle, the door in front of them finally opened and Shepard spread her arms in a welcoming gesture. Upon noticing Jack's expression, she only nodded and took a step aside to let them enter. "Bar's straight ahead," she announced and Jack thankfully rushed into the house.

* * *

"Aria. I'm glad you could make it."

As expected, the asari's face showed no emotion while she gave a short nod of acknowledgment. "Just wanted to make sure my present has arrived..."

Shepard nodded eagerly. "Yup, all three shiploads of liquor have arrived this morning. I would have preferred a warning, though... I mean, sending the Blood Pack, Aria? Really?" Shepard shook her head, absent-mindedly rubbing over her still bruised knuckles when a short laugh escaped her at the memory. "I was about to knock out the third one when I noticed the Omega logo on the skycar transporters hovering behind them..."

Finally, a small smile started tugging at a corner of Aria's mouth and she patted Shepard's shoulder, leaning closer. "That was part of the present," she stated, "Didn't want you to get soft..."

One of her eyebrows rose involuntarily when she caught sight of something behind Shepard's shoulder and, her poker face back in place, Aria casually nodded towards the bar. "Who's that?"

"Hm?" Shepard turned and scanned the living room already filled with most of her former crew members, searching for the cause of Aria's interest when a smile formed on her face. "Matriarch Aethyta, Liara's father. And she's single, as far as I know..." she added helpfully, a suggestive eyebrow raised.

Aria nodded, her face expressionless once again – except for the almost invisible spark in her eyes. "Well, I guess I'll go and introduce myself, then..." she announced, straightening her jacket, and shoved past Shepard. The pirate queen was about to approach the oblivious asari talking to a large krogan when she paused once more. Leaning in to Shepard's ear for the second time, she added, "I guess you should make sure my three shiploads last a little longer..." And with that, she headed towards the bar, Shepard's confused eyes following her.

"What do you-" the human's eyes widened when they fell on the bar – or rather, the alien leaning against it. "Grunt! Get away from that liquor RIGHT NOW! Have you even reached adulthood yet?"

The tank-bred krogan simply shrugged, unimpressed, and downed another drink before he quickly stepped away from the bar when he saw Shepard storming towards him.

* * *

Karin Chakwas touched Miranda's arm lightly and smiled as she followed the other's gaze. "She has your eyes," the doctor announced and Miranda finally turned away from Emily who was currently in "aunt" Tali's arms, looking at the people gathered around her just as wide-eyed as they were looking at her.

"Yes, she does." Miranda smiled in contentment but couldn't resist casting a triumphant look at Shepard a second later.

The commander, however, didn't have time to notice it, as she was momentarily occupied with trying to keep a slightly staggering krogan away from the bar; a task that turned out to be quite the challenge... Even drunk, Grunt was still a krogan and thus more than twice the human's size... a painful fact Shepard had to learn more than once every time she unsuccessfully tried to block the krogan's way back to get a new drink with her own (still weakend) body...

Following Miranda's line of sight once again (intrigued by the dark-haired woman's amused, if somewhat devilish, smile) Dr. Chakwas gave a short laugh as she joined most of the party's guests in their observation of the scene before them.

Once the mayhem had somewhat settled down – mainly due to Wrex who'd decided to join Shepard's fight and, after a few exchanged headbutts, was now sitting on top of a struggling Grunt while the former commander had time to catch her breath – Dr. Chakwas turned back to Miranda.

"You know, when the result of her behavior started showing on her face after only a couple of missions on the rebuilt Normandy, I was slightly concerned about her way of dealing with the job..." she started and Miranda turned away from Shepard, honest curiousity gleaming in her eyes while she waited for the older woman to continue. Dr. Chakwas smiled at the memory and continued, "I tried to warn her about the influence her behavior would have on her looks, but she never seemed to care about the scars." She shrugged. "Sometimes I think she was even proud of them, god knows why..."

Miranda's expression darkened and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, sighing. "Oh believe me: she was _very_ proud of them..."

"That's what I feared..." Dr. Chakwas nodded, shooting Miranda a sympathetic smile, followed by a shrug. "She has always been a hothead... But seeing her now... with her daughter... with you..." The doctor sighed, fixing Miranda with a warm look. "You've changed her... To be quite honest, I never thought I'd see the day when the great Commander Shepard would settle down or be able to hold a baby and making it look like an actual human being instead of a gun..."

Miranda nodded absent-mindedly, her eyes searching Shepard across the room. _The things you don't know, Karin... the things you don't know..._

* * *

_"Miri, please... it just keeps screaming! What am I supposed to do now?"_

_Miranda turned away from Tali's mobile – where she'd unsuccessfully tried to change the blinding red light Shepard had activated by accident – and crossed her arms in front of her chest while she eyed the other woman sitting in a chair in front of her._

_"First of all, Shepard, it's not an 'it'. It's your daughter and her name is Emily," as if on cue, the small bundle in Shepard's arms turned up the volume of its screams to an even higher level, causing the redhead to wince in pain, "And second... _you_'re her mother, aren't you supposed to instinctively know what to do in a situation like this?"_

_The former commander's brows furrowed in concentration but after a second, she simply shrugged, her pleading eyes back on Miranda. "No..."_

* * *

"She is beautiful." Liara linked arms with a still slightly exhausted Shepard, leaning against the former commander's side. "And she has your eyes."

"Yeah..." A proud smile spread across Shepard's face as she cast Miranda, who was standing in one of the living room's corners scrolling through a datapad Dr. Chakwas had just handed her, a triumphant look.

Noticing the look, Liara gave a short laugh. "She was so cold when I first met her, you know... Completely focused on her duty." She turned her head back to Shepard, a warm smile adorning her lips. "You have no idea how much you've changed her." She took a sip from the drink in her hand and leaned her head on Shepard's shoulder.

"Hey, kid."

Liara's head shot back up again and she stared at her father in disbelief.

"Dad, what are you doing here? You were supposed to babysit our daughters!" she exclaimed, searching the room for Shiala to return home immediately.

Aethyta raised her hands to soothe her daughter's panicked outburst. "I was invited." The matriarch shrugged, grinning. "Besides, some commandos still owed me a favor..."

Liara sighed, taking another sip from her drink to calm her nerves. "Well, it seems at least they're in good hands..." she stated dryly.

Aethyta nodded eagerly. "Yup. Couldn't take better care of them myself." Her eyes settled on Shepard. "Hey, you know who this Aria is? She claims to be the queen of... something..."

"Omega."

"Right, that's it. Heh, honestly, it's been decades since I've last visited Omega. Was kinda busy traveling where my daughter went..." Aethyta winked and gently nudged Liara who just rolled her eyes.

"Nobody said you'd have to follow me _everywhere_," the younger asari declared and leaned closer to Shepard, lowering her voice. "She wanted to move into an apartment right next to ours..."

Aethyta, who'd still heard her daughter, waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, won't be necessary anymore now that you've found yourself another protector." She snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. "My daughter and Nezzie's acolyte together... who'd have thought I'd live to see the day...? I'm sure you have a lot to talk about... once you're tangled into each other, sweat running down your spent bodies and soaking the bedsheets-"

"Dad!"

* * *

"And you think it could work?"

Dr. Chakwas gently rubbed Miranda's arm, giving her an encouraging smile. "There's no guarantee, of course, but I think we have a good chance this time... The rest your body has received over the last couple of years has greatly improved its powers of recuperation. It should be strong enough now for us to start the procedure. From there, it's still a long way, but I think we're ready to try it. As soon as _you_'re ready, of course..."

Miranda nodded absent-mindeldy, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips... Was it wrong that, even though they already had a healthy one-year-old, the possibility to test the procedure that had taken her and Dr. Chakwas years to develop was causing the scientific part of her mind to do backflips?

She was about to open her mouth when a loud voice interrupted her.

"So..." Jack let her eyes wander around the room, rubbing her hands in anticipation. "Where's the proud father?"

As if Miranda could feel Jack's gaze (which she probably could), Miranda turned around and her eyes widened when she saw the ex-convict approach her, a devilish smile almost cutting Jack's face in half... "Nice job, Lawson!" She patted Miranda's shoulder, causing the former operative's cheeks to darken immediately.

"I'm not..." Miranda shook her head, clearing her throat in irritation. "That's not... how it works, Jack..." she stammered, her eyes darting around the room in search for help. They pleadingly fell on Dr. Chakwas standing next to her, but the doctor quickly took a step back, raising her hands.

"I've had my fair share of broken bones to heal on the Normandy to know not to step on her toes, dear."

With Chakwas out of the picture, Miranda's eyes continued scanning the room for another possible savior until they found Shepard's, her body relaxing immediately when the redhead noticed her pleading eyes and, with a short nod, approached them.

Smiling, Shepard put a new beer in Jack's empty hand, patting her on the back while softly shoving the tattooed woman away from her still flustered former XO. "There you go, Jack. Now go check if Vega is already drunk enough to get that unicorn tattoo we were talking about earlier..."

Jack's attention was immediately drawn to the full bottle in her hand (as well as the chance to finally put her pocket tattoo machine to good use and see if she was actually able to tattoo while being drunk, as she'd loudly bragged about on more than one occasion) and she smiled happily as she walked away, having forgotten all about her previous outburst already...

Once Jack was out of earshot, Shepard turned back around and shrugged before she wrapped her arms around Miranda from behind. "That's how you handle her..." she grinned and nodded towards Dr. Chakwas. "So, what have you two been talking about?"

Smiling at the couple warmly, Dr. Chakwas joined them again. "Hello Commander. I was just informing Miranda about the possible success of our developed procedure."

Shepard's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean she could carry a child?"

The doctor shrugged, still smiling at the couple. "I think that's something you should discuss with Miranda. Only the two of you," she declared, her eyes already darting to a lonely bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy she'd spotted on the bar a while ago. She clapped her hands. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I still feel much too sober for a party like this..."

Needing a few seconds to let the new information sink in, Shepard followed Karin's way to the bar absent-mindedly before she turned back to Miranda, resting her head on the dark-haired woman's shoulder. "So?"

Miranda shrugged carefully. "What do you think?"

"What do _I_ think?" Shepard's head rose from Miranda's shoulder and she turned the other woman in her arms to face her. "What do _you_ think? It's _your_ body after all..." A mischievous smirk tugged at her lips. "To be honest, I don't reccomend it," that earned her a slap on the arm, "but the end result is worth all the pain..."

"And mood swings," Miranda growled and Shepard's eyebrows rose in feigned surprise.

"Excuse me? I didn't have any mood swings..." She shook her head in mock offense. "Pfff, absurd..."

"Of course..." Miranda rolled her eyes. "I guess I just imagined you happily skipping towards the kitchen only to release a stream of curses about not being able to 'drink any damn coffe because of that brat' a second later, then..."

Shepard's brows furrowed in feigned thought before she shrugged. "I... guess so..."

She was about to turn around when Miranda reached for her arm and pulled her back into an embrace. "There's... one more thing..."

Shepard's eyebrows rose but she remained silent.

Miranda cleared her throat, averting her eyes. "I'm obviously not as talented at finding the right moment for something like this as you are..." she murmured while one of her hands reached for a pocket in her jeans, "but there's something I wanted you to have..."

At the sight of Shepard's widened eyes upon seeing the ring Miranda sheepishly held out to her, she quickly added, "There's no need to make a big thing out of it, Shepard..."

A mischievous smirk playing around her lips, Shepard opened her mouth and inhaled loudly only to be stopped by Miranda's glare. "Don't. You. Dare," she hissed.

The former Cerberus operative shot a quick glance over Shepard's shoulder to make sure nobody had noticed their exchange but everyone still seemed too occupied with the generous amount of still untouched liquor at the bar to care about the two of them standing in a corner of the living room.

Her head turned back to Shepard when she felt the other softly take the ring from her hand but before she could open her mouth to add another warning, Shepard had already leaned in to kiss her, smiling against her lips.

"I do."


	12. Chapter 12

**"We can't pretend to be anything other than troubleshooting space divas..."**

**.**

**A few months later...**

"Dare I ask what you're trying to feed our daughter?" Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the kitchen's door frame.

Miranda sighed and lowered the spoon in her hand, turning around. "This, my dear, is healthy baby food," she announced before she turned back to Emily, who was still skeptically inspecting the spoon being presented to her.

Shepard pushed herself off the door frame and sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing her daughter's back. Emily immediately took her eyes off the spoon and smiled at her mother in thanks for the help that was sure to follow.

Miranda just shook her head at the picture. "It's proven that babies develop their biotic abilities earlier when their immune system is strong and they're healthy, which is why I suggest she eats this very..." She lifted the can standing next to her and inspected the label. "...healthy purée consisting of organic carrots from a controlled farm on Earth."

"Tasty..." Shepard looked down at her daughter and grimaced, Emily giggling happily while she imitated her mother's expression.

"Don't encourage her!" Miranda put the can down and glared at Shepard while she lifted the spoon still in her hand and shoved it towards Emily's mouth.

A soft, crackling sound made them both freeze and only seconds later, they both followed the plastic plate on its way before it crashed into the wall behind them. Their heads shot back around and stared at the still giggling toddler in surprise.

Miranda was the fist to find her voice again. She swallowed once. "Was that her first biotic push?"

A proud smile spread across Shepard's face and she ran a hand through Emily's dark (with, sadly, not even a hint of red) hair. She shrugged. "Guess we don't need that healthy food anymore..."

* * *

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Shepard leaned against the wall at the feet of the stairs she'd just walked down and silently watched the peaceful scene in front of her.

Emily was lying on her blanket on the floor and Shepard smiled when she noticed Cal lying right next to her, snoring softly; for some reason, their varren had never claimed Emily's blanket, as if he'd automatically known who it belonged to... While her guardian was sleeping next to her, Emily's eyes were fixed on a new mobile – another gift from Tali – hanging from a construction with four adjustable legs allowing to place it anywhere in a room. Hanging down were various little plush aliens, including a krogan, an asari, a turian and a quarian, surrounding a small holographic screen that let the user choose from a variety of tales gathered from all around the galaxy – while unbeknown to the baby still monitoring the toddler's heartrate, temperature, etc...

Right now, the mobile told the engrossed Emily a tale about a young quarian on her Pilgrimage, causing Shepard's smile to widen as she took a few more seconds to listen to the familiar voice telling the story...

After listening for a while (and silently deciding to spend a lot more time on that blanket next to Emily, listening to all the tales Tali had managed to collect, in the future) Shepard pushed herself off the wall and approached the couch.

"Did she already manage a Singularity or are you just following the story as well?" she playfully asked and Miranda tore her eyes away from her daughter and smiled at Shepard.

"It's far too early for that, but she'll still need biotic training as soon as she's old enough," the dark-haired woman stated seriously while her fingers traced random patterns on her pregnant belly. "I talked to Liara about it this afternoon..."

With a content sigh, Shepard sat down on the couch. "Well, in that case I'm sure she's in good hands with you and Liara as her biotic mentors..." She grinned mischievously. "That leaves me for the weapons training..."

Miranda eyed her carefully while she stated, "And she's _far_ too young for that!" Her eyes narrowed at Shepard's unimpressed shrug. "I warned you before, if I ever see her running around our house with a weapon twice her size-"

"You'll use me as a real-life dummy for her next biotic training, I know."

Nodding smilingly, Shepard leaned closer and stretched her arm to drape it around Miranda's shoulder, but pulled it back immediately when she heard an angry growl coming from the other side. Settling on the pyjak, her eyes narrowed. Ever since Miranda's pregnancy, Niftu had become even more protective of her. Miranda even had to ban him from their bedroom after he'd hissingly refused to let Shepard get into their bed – an action that quickly could have caused him to end up as a smear on the wall judging by Shepard's glowing hands if Miranda hadn't interfered, placing the protesting pyjak in front of their door and giving Shepard something else to occupy her mind with...

Miranda sighed and patted the pyjak lying on the couch's backrest, partly draped around her shoulders, on the head. "I know. She can be a pain..." She turned her head slightly and winked at Shepard. "But who else is going to massage my feet?" With a grin, she placed her feet in Shepard's lap in a silent command.

Shepard skeptically eyed the pet but noticing that massaging Miranda's feet evoked a hiss from Niftu every time she moved, the former commander happily set to work, shooting the pyjak a victorious smile.

"Niftu, dear, why don't you go and find me a blanket?"

The pyjak raised his head and looked at his master attentively. Miranda smiled and repeated, "Blanket."

With a chirping sound, Niftu jumped off the couch and hurried up the stairs, Shepard's surprised eyes following him.

"He can do that?" Shepard turned back to Miranda. "He ignored me every time I asked him to get me the news-datapad in the morning," she declared, shooting a glare over her shoulder, but Niftu had already vanished.

Miranda shrugged as she placed her feet back on the ground and leaned into Shepard's arm. "I thought you taught Cal how to do that already..."

"I did, but I don't see why Cal should do all the hard work while that little pest is allowed to just sit around sleeping and eating all day..."

As if on cue, the pyjak returned, dragging a soft blanket from their bedroom with him which he then carefully placed around Miranda – deliberately leaving the woman his master was currently leaning on out... Noticing this, Miranda shot the pyjak a disapproving look before she spread the blanket over both of them.

"You know," she started, staring at Niftu intently, "One of you will have to make the first step, because if I am to choose between the two of you, I'll stick with the one who's able to carry me around when my feet hurt... Among other things..." she purred, snuggling closer to Shepard and placing a languid kiss on her neck.

Niftu eyed the couple for a while longer before he gave a grumbling sound and grabbed the news-datapad from the coffee table, offering it to Shepard. Biting her lower lip, Shepard's eyes started gleaming with emotion as she reached for the datapad, still in awe whispering, "Thank you."

Starting to fidget in sudden embarrassment, Niftu quickly turned away and hurried to his hammock in the kitchen, obviously surprised (and confused) by his own actions...

Shepard tossed the already read datapad back onto the coffee table (it was the thought that counted) and turned back to Miranda who was watching Emily again, which gave Shepard enough time to study the woman in her arms...

Even pregnant, Miranda had somehow managed to still be graceful in everything she did, making a slightly jealous Shepard wonder how she was able to do so in a state she knew all too well herself... But then again, when hadn't Miranda been graceful?

Even her clothes showed how much the former operative needed to still be in control... Instead of settling for normal, oversized clothes (like Shepard had), Miranda had her own collection of tailor-made maternity clothes that looked very elegant while at the same time very comfortable and soft, which Shepard had to reaffirm with her expert hands every couple of hours – reminding herself to unwrap her arms and leave the other woman some room to breathe every now and then (not that Miranda minded the attention)...

All in all, Miranda had managed to get through the first few months of her pregnancy without being as whiny as Shepard had been. She kept her mood swings under control, ate the healthy food, she'd almost had to force-feed Shepard with, without complaint and even injected herself with the occasional necessary medicine that enabled her body to carry the child without complications. The latter also meant fewer visits at Dr. Chakwas' and a lot of horrified looks from Shepard whenever she watched her lover expertly handling needles the length of her hand...

But the therapy seemed to work so far and Miranda's belly had steadily grown, holding a certain fascination for Shepard she couldn't quite explain. Being pregnant and watching someone else being pregnant definitely were two different things, but fascinating nevertheless...

Shepard carefully touched Miranda's belly and caressed it lovingly, eliciting a satisfied sigh from the woman underneath her.

"I assume she'll be the image of the great Miranda Lawson..." Shepard mused quietly.

Miranda slightly turned to be able and look at Shepard, an eyebrow raised questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Shepard shrugged. "If I'd get to control my daughter's DNA, I'd make sure she gets as many of your traits as possible too..."

Miranda freed herself from the embrace and straightened up on the couch, facing Shepard fully. "You mean I've altered our daughters' DNA to have two small versions of myself running around our house? As far as I remember, you weren't interested in taking part in the first stages of our preparations..." she challenged playfully, only a hint of pique in her voice which Shepard noticed nevertheless.

"Oh, I'm not complaining," she quickly assured her, reaching out and gently squeezing Miranda's hand on the couch's backrest. A mischievous smirk played around her hips as she shrugged. "I can still make sure they pick up enough of my personality to compensate..."

Miranda shrugged, pursing her lips to hide her smile as she snuggled back into Shepard's arms. "Well, you just might be surprised..." she murmured, remembering the genetic alterations she and Dr. Chakwas had made this time...

_I think she'll like the red hair..._

* * *

_A/N: All right, that concludes this story (phew!)... Thanks a lot for everyone reading, following, reviewing, etc.  
_

_Unfortunately, I feel the whole Miri/Femshep pairing universe is coming to an end for me and there's not much else I can think of writing about them... As some of you probably already know, there'll be another follow-up called "Shepard Charm" which will take a look at the future, though there definitely won't be as many chapters as in this one... To make it easier, I'll upload a one-shot called "Tali's Mobile" sometime later which will cover the gap between the end of this chapter and the first chapter of "Shepard Charm" (hope that makes sense)._

_With that being said: thanks again for following these stories and I hope you'll enjoy the remaining chapters before I'll put a definite end to a pairing I've enjoyed for quite some time now... :)_


End file.
